


Two Drunk Trolls And An Old Lady

by Andropedia



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/F, Roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 14:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 47,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17082146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andropedia/pseuds/Andropedia
Summary: Large, bright room. South facing.She sighs again, once more seriously contemplating just leaving. But she needs a place to live, preferably an affordable one, because the money she managed to safe before her falling out with her mother won’t last forever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is kind of a test baloon. Trying out how well the characters work if you try to fit them into a modern setting devoid of existencial angst and eternal war. Have fun. And if you so please, tell me how ou like their initial characterization

“So this is it.” Jaina comments to herself under her breath. The building is… it has charm. She supposes she always enjoyed the architecture of the old world; But the half-timbered four-story building has seen better days. To put it mildly. She takes another look at the note she has printed out earlier.

 

_Large, bright room. South facing._

 

She sighs again, once more seriously contemplating just leaving. But she needs a place to live, preferably an affordable one, because the money she managed to safe before her falling out with her mother won’t last forever. So she decides to at least take a look. She unnecessarily dusts off her clothes once more, wondering if going with her favorite white summer dress and dark blue top might be too casual a choice, adjusts the old leather messenger bag at her side, and self-conscientiously tugs the bright white strain of hair falling into her face behind her ear, before finally ringing the door bell. ‘Windrunner’ the label on the button reads, the name next to it has almost passive aggressively been crossed out with black marker. A moment later the door buzzes open, and she is wordlessly granted entry.

When she reaches the second floor, once more going over the little information that’s given in the pamphlet, she is greeted by the sight of a tall, pale elf woman, scowling at her with uncharacteristic faintly glowing amber eyes. Soft waves of long, ash blonde hair flowing out from under the large black hoodie jacket, only faint streaks of honey telling they might have had another color in the past. Her features are sharp. Sharper than most elves Jaina has met, and at first glance she looks seemingly hostile even, but there is a certain calm grace to her face, that isn’t immediately apparent. From what is visibly through the hoodie and the dark laced leather pants she is as lean as most elves, but trailing her eyes over the taller woman’s body, Jaina can guess that her physique is strong and well toned, and there is a strange straightness to her posture.

 

“Are you done staring at me?” the elf asks sharply, although with an amused edge to her voice, and unfolds and refolds her arms in front of her.

 

Jaina blinks owlishly, catching herself indeed gaping at the tall woman, and quickly shakes her head, before recognizing her mistake and nodding vigorously, a soft blush settling on her face, as she tries to compose herself again.

 

“No, Yes, Hi, I... _Er_ … I’m Jaina. Jaina _Proudmoore_. I’m here for the room?” She hastily waves the printout and steps forward to properly greet the elf, trying to somehow contort her face into the noblest expression she can muster.

 

“Come on in.” The other woman dismisses her outstretched hand– This is also _the rudest_ elf she has ever met. –and gestures for her to follow her inside. “I’m Sylvanas.” she adds casually as the two of them step through the door.

 

“ _Windrunner_.” Jaina iterates.

 

“You can read.” the rude elf replies dryly, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Jaina inflates her cheeks, wants to make a snappy reply too, but somehow fails to come up with anything; Which certainly is a new one. While she is still thinking over a snarky reply, they arrive in what is a pretty large living room with a pretty well equipped and modern kitchen attached to it. Over all the whole interior looks clean and exceptionally well maintained. White walls effortlessly reflecting the sunlight streaming in from the windows. A large couch is sitting lonely in its center, opposite of a large-ish TV and a few, by the looks of it pretty orderly, bookshelves. The walls are decorated with photographs of the Silvermoon skyline before _the attacks_ and other places she thinks she vaguely recognizes as Quel'Thalas too. There is also a worn, although pretty precious looking old bow hanging on the wall above the TV. On second glance, except for the bow, it almost looks sterile. There is little indication someone is actually living here, practically all of the objects neatly aligned with each other in straight lines and square angles.

When Jaina eventually turns towards the kitchen, she registers two more elves in the room with them. A tall man with long bright blonde hair is sitting on one of the countertops. As she sizes him up, he glints at her with a flamboyant, roguish smile, before bringing what looks like a mug of coffee to his mouth, for the moment quietly eyeing her over its brim before speaking.

 

“Oh, she’s a cutie!” he announces brightly, very much ignoring the fact Jaina is standing right there in front of them, and adds “We have a winner. Can we keep her?”

 

At the same time at the counter in the middle of the kitchen, a shorter elf woman with a honey blond pixie cut, is holding a knife over the body of a squirrel, a number of other obviously shamanistic ingredients spread out in front of her. The elf has a quite intense expression on her face and even raises the weapon over her head, before becoming aware of their presence. The little ordeal even makes Jaina forget about the man’s comment _and_ makes her miss the hostile glare her hostess is shooting him.

 

“What are you doing?” she instinctively inquires intrigued, before the other elf woman can say anything either.

 

“Trying out a hypothesis about Troll Voodoo.” The short elf establishes cheerily, again carefully adjusting the position of her hands.

 

From the corner of her eye the human can see Sylvanas roll her eyes into her skull and inhale loudly, before her pupils return with an annoyed blink.

 

“Please excuse my friend Velonara, she is currently _not_ trying to summon a spirit to our kitchen.” the tall elf woman says sharply, in turn prompting the other elf to roll her eyes and lower the weapon. But then her expression immediately becomes lighthearted again, and she shoots Jaina an impish smile she can’t quite place either.

 

“And you! Can you turn down the gay at least a little bit?” Sylvanas adds, shooting the tall man sitting atop the counter a hostile look. _Well, she isn’t wrong_ Jaina thinks. The man quasi radiates glitter with every twitch of his face; His eyes are bright and there is a lot of wit behind them, although there is also the typical arrogance of elf magisters, she is more than accustomed to already.

 

“Why, are you afraid you might get caught in the headlights?” he replies unfazed by her assertion, prompting her to groan violently, before shaking her head. Jaina for a moment looks between them with a slightly confused expression.

 

“Jaina, meet Kael'thas Sunstrider, cherished son of our beloved president.” the taller elf introduces in a resigning, but nonetheless still sarcastic tone and gestures for the human to follow her down the hall.

 

“Excuse my _friends_. Velonara has always been a bit extra, and Kael has been dropped on his head a few times when he was a small child.” Sylvanas informs her dryly.

 

“Don’t worry, I have been around elves my whole life. These two seem pretty nice actually.” Jaina replies politely, although slightly irritated, when they are past the kitchen. Further down the hall there is set of doors, only one of them open. When they reach the end, Sylvanas leads them into a clearly south facing and admittedly very bright room. Like the rest of the apartment, the interior looks nothing like the rundown appearance outside; Matt, clearly newly painted, white walls, bathed into the warm yellow of the late afternoon. All the electrics look well maintained, as to expected only a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, secured by a screw terminal.

 

“This would be your room. I’m in the one just across the hall. There is only one bathroom, so we’d be sharing.” the elf gestures at door right at the end of the hallway. Jaina doesn’t reply right away, and instead takes in the sight for a few more moments. It’s certainly not what she expected. Well, it’s better. A lot actually.

 

“You are a ranger, right?” Jaina asks straight forward; At first she thought about simply asking what she was doing for a living, but then concluded she might as well try to score a few extra points by showing she was knowledgeable about this stuff.

 

“Yes. Velonara and I are both rangers. My mother is the general actually.” the elf informs her curtly. “So, are you interested? Rent is due upfront. Not my doing. You don’t really look like you require a deposit, but your share would be another five hundred gold. You can move in immediately though. No paperwork required. I’m actually the one officially renting the apartment.” Sylvanas says almost businesslike.

 

“Are there no other prospects?” Jaina asks, wary of the outrageous amount of luck. – This is almost too good to be true. – The other woman only questioningly quirks an eyebrow, visibly annoyed scratching her forehead, blinking just once.

 

“Well yes, but none as promising as you. Today we had two clearly drunk trolls, an ancient elf who immediately tried to get into my pants and an old lady who probably would have died on me within a month.” she explains calmly. “And this part of town isn’t exactly highly sought after among young, attractive mages.” Sylvanas adds. “And frankly I can’t afford the apartment on my own.” she concedes.

 

“How did you...” Jaina begins before recognizing the compliment and another blush starts to creep onto her face. The taller woman’s voice is completely level and her expression almost painfully neutral. But if she was to only read a transcript of the interaction she would be sure she is being flirted with. Although in a kind of very awkward way, even by her standards. The elf only grabs a strain of her own hair and straightens it out by pulling on it, gesturing at the side of Jaina’s head.

 

“Oh...right….” the human replies sheepishly, patting the silver hair still tugged behind her ear. “So, what happened with your other roommate?” she inquires casually, trying to find her way back to a normal conversation.

 

“’Moved to Lordaeron for work.” the elf woman replies curtly, maintaining her completely neutral expression. Although Jaina could swear she sees flames flare behind her eyes.

 

“So, _Jaina Proudmoore_ , do you want it?” Sylvanas asks again. Her expression is neutral as she tilts her head sideways.

 

“Yes. Yes!” the shorter woman hurriedly replies, trying her best to contain her excitement this was going so well for her.

 

“Just one question.” the elf woman interrupts Jaina’s little victory dance. “What exactly is it you do for a living?” she inquires, obviously suspicious about the fact herself. Because no mage in their right mind would voluntarily live this far from the lights of the city’s skyscrapers and high society.

 

“I have rich parents.” Jaina offers quickly. It’s not really a lie. More of a creative omission of some details. Maybe. At least she won’t be homeless anymore. Sylvanas still eyes her somewhat suspiciously, so Jaina who _obviously_ has planned ahead, procures her purse from her bag and starts to count down gold bills as nonchalant as possible, forcing a smile onto her face, even though every single bill added to the small stack in her hand almost causes her physical pain. The gesture apparently does have its intended effect, because the ranger’s posture eases noticeably as she takes money from the human.

 

“Welcome _home_ Jaina Proudmoore. Just be aware these two are pretty much included in the deal.” the tall woman adds a moment later, gesturing towards the living room, the faintest sign of a smile crossing her face.

 

“I can deal with that.” Jaina replies confidently, not fully knowing what she is getting herself into.

 

“Do you need help with your stuff or something?” her new roommate asks casually. The shorter woman already has a hard time telling whether she is being sarcastic, or serious, or simply indifferent.

 

“No, I have a company bringing….” the mage begins, but suddenly jumps backwards with a very undignified squeal. Sylvanas spins around in the spot, at first looking at her bewildered, but then finds a small rodent, glowing in translucent blue running circles at the woman’s feet, causing her to inhale loudly again.


	2. I’m gay. She’s a woman. You are not helping.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” a distant voice calls out to Jaina. At first she tries to ignore it, because her brain can’t grasp any possible scenario, in which there is someone standing next to her bed. But then the voice calls again and again, and she eventually squeezes her eyes open, and almost topples off the couch, because her new friend Velonara’s face is only inches away from her own.

 

“Good morning!” the elf greets her cheerily, a bright smile on her face. The squirrel spirit she summoned the day before sits on her shoulder, its head tilted, curiously eyeing Jaina. The sudden awareness of the other woman’s presence makes the mage instinctively jerk the blanket, loosely draped around her body, upwards to unnecessarily cover herself.

 

“I… What….” Jaina knits her eyebrows together, at least somewhat manages to find some more space to retreat to, and takes a slightly panicked look around. Half a second later she remembers again; When she had, on a strange whim, revealed she was basically homeless, – “Living at a bed and breakfast doesn’t count JP!” _She also strongly objects to being called that!_ – the shorter elf basically forced her, albeit under the polite objections of her new roommate or landlady or whatever, to stay on the couch in the living room until her stuff would arrive today. Which she strangely enough agreed to. Mainly because not only is she technically homeless, but also broke. At least Sylvanas drove her over to the BnB she was staying at to pick up her clothes, as a quick look down on herself confirms she is wearing one of her sleep shirts. – A very awkward and admittedly very quiet drive, she might add.

 

“Your stuff is here!” Velonara informs the blonde and vanishes into the kitchen before she can reply, causing her to frown in confusion again. Jaina wants to take a moment to collect herself, but doesn’t get the luxury, as she barely recognizes a sudden movement on her other side, followed by the elf man plopping into the little space between her and the other end of the couch. Somehow she manages to not jump away. Although he doesn’t look particularly tired, there are little rings under his eyes, even visible through their faint blue glow, and the wrinkles and barely noticeable stains on his shirt basically confirm her first suspicion that he hasn’t even slept yet.

 

“So. Jaina.” He begins and to his credit hands her a large mug of still steaming hot tea, prompting her to wonder how he knows her preference over the coffee in his hands. “’You been seeing someone lately?” he inquires even more cheerily than the other woman has been.

 

“For the love of… Leave her alone!” the tall elf woman’s voice suddenly interrupts before the mage can even think of a remotely coherent answer, and with a vaguely violence suggesting gesture shoos the man off the couch.

 

“You didn’t mention they wouldn’t be bringing your stuff up?” Sylvanas inquires, raising an eyebrow. And apparently skipping over the niceties of a formal _good morning_.

 

“What do you mean?” Jaina asks even more confused, still rubbing her eyes, trying to gain a basic grasp of the situation.

 

“The dwarfs who delivered your furniture and what I assume is the entirety of the contents of the Great Library of Dalaran, just asked whether we were living together, then handed me the form to sign off the delivery and then left.” the other woman informs her matter-of-factly.

 

“Wait, they what… No, no, that can’t be right they were supposed to….” the sleepy blonde protests.

 

“Here –” Velonara waves a sheet of paper that looks vaguely familiar in front of Jaina’s face. “...the contents of the shipping shall thereby be delivered to an address of the client’s choosing. If no such address is provided during contract formation, no other of the responsibilities summarized under subsection _2-_ _A_ _Co_ _ntractual_ _O_ _bligation and_ _D_ _elivery_ shall apply, as long as the contents of the shipment are delivered to the address specified retroactively.” She reads out loud. “Looks sound to me.”

 

“ _Fuck_ ” the mage groans, and lets her torso fall backwards onto the surface of the couch again. “So, I might need to ask a favor of you.” she states sheepishly, still eyeing the ceiling above her, and her new roommate lets out an annoyed grown, not unlike Jaina’s.

 

 

 

About half an hour later, after Jaina had breakfast, courtesy of Vel and Kael practically begging Sylvanas until she finally caved and uncannily quick prepared an assortment of fried sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs for the three of them, showered, and got dressed, they get to the task at hand. They begin with the mages carefully levitation the larger pieces of furniture up to the window of the still empty bedroom where Sylvanas and Velonara carefully lever them through the luckily large enough window.

Another half an hour later, there are suddenly three of Velonara. A thought that, after the past twenty four hours, already secretly scares the human woman more than she would admit. There are slight differences in how the three of them wear their hair; Lyana, the _oldest_ triplet, has them simply parted to the other side, and wears a lot more piercings through the visible parts of her body, while Anya, the youngest, has her equally short hair pulled back into two very short, brushy pigtails. As Jaina also learns, all three of them have three small curved daggers tattooed behind their left ears. A detail that was concealed because of the way Vel wears her hair. With the two additional sisters’ help they make quick work of the, in Sylvanas’ words _ridiculous_ , amount of books and what little furniture the mage has brought, and by noon they are resting cramped into the kitchen area and on top of the counters, while Kael’Thas is fast asleep on the couch.

After spending some time watching her, apparently ever grumpy roommate’s and her friend’s interactions, she is actually glad that the apartment came with those, even though they are a hand full, to say the least; A loud sigh of relieve escaping her, as she slumps down on one of the bar stools at the kitchen island.

 

Although Jaina isn’t really sure whether she’s actually willing to, Sylvanas spends the late afternoon, after the others have left, installing the ceiling lamp and finalizing the arrangement of her furniture with her. Only _slightly_ rolling her eyes when the shorter woman changes her opinion about the _large wooden_ desk’s position the _forth_ time.

 

“So, you like books?” the elf asks, neutrally, while stacking the boxes filled with books to another spot, _again_.

 

“Kind of.” Jaina replies awkwardly, kneeing in front of an already half empty box, unsure whether the woman is taking a jab at her or simply wants to make small talk, quickly ending their short conversation, since the other woman doesn’t follow up.

 

“I stocked up the fridge the other day. Please feel free to just take what you want. I usually make larger trips for groceries on my free days, but there is a small store down the street if you need something else.” the elf informs her, standing in the door frame when the sun has already set. The half dark of the room only illuminated by the reading lamp on the nightstand and the desk lamp, while Jaina still stacks books into the one of the two large bookshelves.

 

“I’ll have to get up early tomorrow. So I’ll leave you to it.” She adds rather neutrally. “Good Night.”

 

“Good Night!” Jaina hastily replies, somehow feeling strangely uneasy about the exchange, if it even qualifies as such. Maybe she is just tired.

 

 

 

 

Otherwise the two of them get along surprisingly well. Mainly because the first few weeks Sylvanas shifts are all over the place, and the human mage spends much of her time decorating and sorting the never ending flood of boxes and boxes, filled with books, and otherwise keeps to herself. And when they meet, it’s mostly a polite exchange of greetings, making arrangements for take out or grocery lists. So you could say they get along splendidly. Well, except for one little detail;

It’s been only two weeks since the mage has moved into the apartment, when Sylvanas starts to notice _things_. It starts when she comes home from her shift and casually plops down onto the couch, intent on following her usual ritual of going over the afternoon’s news cycle, and finds a navy blue yoga mat sitting in between the TV and the couch. The foreign object is perfectly aligned with the other furniture and isn’t really much of a disturbance, so she only raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t really bother to say anything about it. After all they are _both_ supposed to live here.

The second time she leaves her room and steps into the kitchen after getting up for work early in the morning, and finds a ridiculously large and seemingly very old book open on the kitchen counter where the other woman had been sitting when she last saw her the evening before. She pinches the bridge of her nose, only so slightly annoyed, and simply relocates the object over to the small side table the human brought with her, even making an effort to not close the book to preserve her reading position.

The third time she steps out of her room in the middle of the night after a very short amount of sleep because she volunteered to take Vel’s shift, and finds the blonde sitting, legs crossed, in the middle of a large stack of papers and opened books in the middle of the living room, the glasses she only wears when reading sitting on top of her head, humming some vaguely sad tune. – Also, did she mention, there is also at least half a package worth of cookie crumpets around her? _But none remotely close to any of the books_. – The sight makes her eye twitch, but she doesn’t say anything, instead only greets the other woman before vanishing into the bathroom. And when she returns after he shift, most of the stuff is gone. And really, she doesn’t care to pick up books or items of clothing making a trail from the entrance to the mage’s room, because she knows she never leaves her stuff like this, and always, _always_ , cleans after herself. _E_ _ventually_.

And maybe she is overreacting, after all they are practically almost never meet or talk, because of her schedule and way the other woman phases out when she is mulling over some problem. But soon the bookshelves, much like the ones in Jaina’s room are overflowing with old magical and mundane parts of her admittedly impressive collection; Tea mugs and other containers start to appear and disappear at random around the whole apartment. _And_ they are getting more; And there is a plant, _his_ name is _Anduin_ apparently. A. Plant. Sentimental reminder of life’s very existence. _Named_. Anduin.

Sylvanas doesn’t really comprehend how someone could be so pedantic – Because she is. ‘No, I can’t just use lemon, It has to be lime. It’s in the recipe.’ – and messy at the same time, she’s even sure the words are actual antonyms, but it has to end.

 

The last straw comes when the ranger one evening rests on her bed, mindlessly skims through the different news media, only absentmindedly reading the headlines of the coverage, when she starts to feel something very familiar in the air. An energy and soft crackle she would know anywhere from miles away. Alarmed, she quickly gets up and follows the strange feeling down the hall and into the living room. There she finds Jaina sitting, legs crossed, in front of one of her old grimoires. She holds her open hands in front of her and seemingly mumbles an incantation of sorts. At first Sylvanas is relieved and turns to leave again, when she hears an elven word that confirms her initial suspicion. Without so much as thinking she spins around, closes the distance between them, grabs the mages hands in her own and quickly closes them. The crackling immediately stops and Jaina’s eyes fly open. Her expression initially full of protest.

 

“Do you have any idea what you were doing?” the elf inquires seriously. Practically scolding. Her voice vibrates with something like anger, but there is a strange sort of honest worry on her expression, that makes Jaina hesitate to outright put her protest into words.

 

“Yes, I was trying out this spell….” She starts pointing at the book in front of her. To her great surprise the tall woman hunkers down next to her, and without asking permission or stating her case turns the book towards herself, apparently skimming over the page the mage was reading from.

 

“What is it you think this spell does?” Sylvanas asks now more calm but noticeably accusatory.

 

“According to the description it creates a strong source of light.” Jaina informs her.

 

“That’s one way to put it.” the other woman replies, now with her signature sarcasm.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the mage frowns at her.

 

“This word...” Sylvanas underlines with her index finger “what is it you think it means?”

 

“Sun.” the shorter woman replies very confidently, giving the elf an affronted look, not a little bit agreeing with the insinuation she didn’t know what she was doing.

 

“And you would be right, were this book printed in the last hundred years. Except this isn’t the first letter of sun, but an honorific for the word fire following it. You were about to cast an explosive arrow in your palm.” she informs her.

 

“I… No… That can’t be right!” the shorter woman still protests, now reading over the page again herself. She turns the page and another one, and suddenly her expression drops into apologetic. “Okay, maybe you are right. Thank you I guess.” She eventually replies, although still defiantly.

 

“Maybe you can call Kael the next time you are unsure about a spell?” Sylvanas asks very patronizing.

 

“I wasn’t….” Jaina begins before falling silent, realizing the flaw in her argument.

 

 

 

 

“So, trouble in paradise?” Is all Kael says, and she really, _really_ , wonders why she even bothers talking to him.

 

“Yes, very funny. I’m gay. She’s a woman. You are not helping. What do I do? It’s been a month and I seriously contemplate asking Vereesa to move in instead.” Sylvanas groans. “She almost burned down the building. _Twice!_ ”

 

“Or move back to Windrunner Spire?” he interjects unhelpfully, clearly wallowing in her misery.

 

“You are exceptionally witty today. Ever thought about doing stand up?” she replies hostilely, scowling at him.

 

“Yes, but the commonality cannot handle my refined wit and intelligence. The world just isn’t ready yet.” he gives back without hesitation. “Have you tried talking to her?”

 

“No, I mean, what even am I going to say? She hasn’t done anything wrong. I just wish she was valuing the general order _and existence_ of this apartment a bit more.”

 

“Then just tell her that. Do something nice for her to soften the blow, then tell her. You still know how to do that, being nice?” his comment elicits another groan from the woman. “Or you could just be passive aggressive about it and see how that goes.” It’s meant to be a snarky remark, but he also knows it’s her usual MO if shooting her way out of a problem isn’t an option.

 

“And what would you propose I do, _nice_?” she asks, even though she knows nothing good is going to come of it. Nothing.

 

“Well. You know what she likes to eat. And please don’t insult my intelligence by denying it. We both know we have been scrambling all over the store to find the things she put on the list. So make dinner for her and do a sort of roommate evaluation meeting, where both of you can share what they like and dislike about their respective roommate. You have nothing to fear, right?” he glints at her like a cat watching its prey getting closer and closer to its ultimate demise.

Sylvanas again pinches the bridge of her nose, then rolls her head around her shoulders, her eyes closed. “I’m not an idiot. You can’t just trick me into dating any woman that comes along by proposing ridiculous stuff like that.” she replies, opening her eyes again.

 

“Oh, Baby, I’m not tricking you. I am asking you to.” he quips in feign insult. “What good is that fabulous ass of yours if no one ever gets to touch it?”

 

“First of all, my ass is not ‘fabulous’.” Sylvanas moans quasi desperate for him to stop talking.

 

“Keep telling yourself that.”

 

“Secondly.”

 

“I’m listening.” He cuts in, even infuriating her more.

“What makes you think she would be _susceptible_ to that? And remember...”

 

“ _You are able to beat me to death with ‘spaghetti’ –_ I know. Call it an intuition?”


	3. Thalassian for Modern Speakers

“Here is the book you asked for!” Kael’Thas casually greets the human mage in his usual cheerful voice, and with a loud bang drops a rather big, but obviously modern book in front of her. _Middle Thalassian for Modern Speakers_ the cover reads; The book itself looks practically mint.

Jaina slightly startles, looks up from her own reading – Sylvanas has ensured her she changed the magical cypher of the apartment door, but apparently to no avail – and is greeted with a wink, as he already walks around the counter and towards the coffee machine like nobody’s business.

 

“Thank you. I hope it wasn’t any trouble.” Jaina replies politely, closes the book in front of her.

 

“Tea?” He asks as nonchalantly as one can be. The human only nods and shoves her empty mug towards the other side of the counter, curiously eyeing the elf. After the past weeks she is pretty accustomed to his antics, the fact that he sometimes practically lives here during the day, and the way he proudly wears his exaggerated flamboyance. But sometimes even considering all that he is somewhat of an enigma to her. At first he seemed super invested in her love life and almost comically inquisitive, but apparently only when her roommate is around. As if he does it specifically to annoy her. A few minutes go by in silence, where Kael simply attends to the kettle, almost ceremonially slow preparing the tea, celebrating every single movement of his hands.

 

“How is the job hunting going?” he asks friendly, without any bite, and saunters over to the counter again, dropping the hot mug of tea in front of the mage, before taking a seat opposite of her.

 

“What do I owe you for the book?” She counters, trying to deflect his question.

 

“Nothing. Money is of no concern to me.” He simply replies. “But there might come a time when I’ll be asking a small favor of you.” He grins almost threateningly. “So, the job hunting...”

 

“Well, _Uh_...” Jaina fidgets in her spot. “Apparently I’m overqualified for all the mundane jobs; And openings for mages aren’t exactly publicly advertised usually.” her shoulders drop in resignation. “Wait, you didn’t tell Sylvanas, did you? I don’t want her to think I won’t be able to make rent….”

 

“It seems I come bearing more good news then.” He replies with a self-congratulatory smile, ignoring her question, then places a vaguely formal looking document on top of the closed book in front of the human. “And I think the fact that you are still in your pajamas two pm in the afternoon makes it pretty obvious.” He adds cheerfully, prompting the woman to look down on herself to confirm she indeed still wears the white silk shirt and pants she crawled out of bed with. – It’s not that she’s going to rack or something. It just doesn’t occur to her sometimes. Especially when there is another task to focus on.

 

_**Job Posting** _

 

_Department of Arcane Studies._

 

Research Assistant | Lab

**Duties & Responsibilities**

 

Full-Time Research Assistant (RA) wanted for longtime support and supervision in the laboratory and teaching of Professor Salonar. The RA’s primary responsibilities include: (1) Teaching auxiliary courses in applied arcane theory. (2) Assisting with assessing/grading students. (3) Supervising student’s lab work. (4) Serving as an interface between the professor and the students of the lab groups. (5) Assisting research in the field of arcane matter theory.

 

**Basic Qualifications**

 

Mage with a background in advanced arcane magic or prior academic work in arcane studies or a related field is required.

 

**Additional Qualifications**

 

Formal magical training preferred. Candidates should have proficiency in a multitude of different kind of spells. Advanced skills in Thalassian or Darnassian advantageous. Strong interpersonal skills, prior research experience, high level of organization with careful attention to detail is required. This position requires a high degree of motivation and self-sufficiency; Extensive training and supervision will be provided.

 

**Additional Information**

 

All formal offers will be made by UQSC Personal Resources. This is a two-year position with renewal scheduled by default, but dependent on funding.

 

 

 

Jaina reads through the page carefully, only from time to time narrowing her eyes, slightly frowning. “This is dated three days from now.” she establishes once she has finished.

 

“Yes.” Kael tilts his head, eyeing her curiously.

 

“Where did you get this? This hasn’t been posted yet.” the human mage sort of protests, prompting the elf to pinch the bridge of his nose.

 

“No it hasn’t.” he confirms dryly.

 

“I mean, it’s a nice job, but won’t there be many applicants?” She asks visibly irritated.

 

“No, there won’t.” Kael quips unfazed by her apparent slow-wittedness. A moment later she catches on.

 

“Wait. No. That’s not right. I couldn’t… All the other applicants.” Jaina protests with a sizable amount of self-righteousness in her tone.

 

“I find your lack of moral flexibility… admirable. But the job is already yours.” the elf replies and raises an eyebrow at her insistence. “All you have to do is say _yes_.” he pauses, looking at her. “Look. You are smart and kindhearted, and that’s great. But you also need money, and this job is practically made for you. It’s okay to be selfish from time to time. What good are you to the world if you are in no position to change it? Also you’d be owing me another, considerably larger favor.” He implores and his signature roguishness returns to his expression.

 

“But how?”

 

“I happen to _know_ someone in the department.” he replies cryptically, shrugs at the question. Another moment goes by with the woman pondering his words, and the admittedly very generous offer.

 

“I’ll take it.” Jaina finally decides, although she still does look quite uncomfortable with the thought. “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you.” She adds meekly, happiness over the fact most of her immediate problems are suddenly solved only so slowly settling in.

 

Before Jaina can say anything else, the sound of keys turning in the lock announce her roommates return. The sudden disruption prompts both of them to turn their attention to the door, and the human quickly puts the document inside the book’s cover. The pair is noticeably irritated by the other woman’s arrival; After all her shift was supposed to last until evening, and both of them know it. – It’s also one of the reasons Jaina would even dare to not get dressed in the morning.

A moment later Sylvanas pushes the door open. It’s not really aggressive, but there is a strange, uncharacteristic intensity to it, that makes the human woman wince. When the elf woman kicks the door shut, she already has dropped her bow and quiver, containing arrows and two rather long daggers, next to the door, and the cloak hoodie mixture made from some strange, high tech looking, honeycombed material, half pulled over her head. A barely audible groan escaping her, as she pulls it over her head entirely, revealing a rather minimalist sports bra over the pale skin of her apparently even more toned and muscular body than the human had originally though.

Intrigued by the sight, Jaina lets her eyes linger, maybe a bit too long, for a moment only blinking owlishly, unable to tear her gaze away. The pants of what she assumes is some kind of combat uniform, are made from the same black honeycombed fabric, and tightly cling to taller woman’s body, down her long legs, until they disappears inside the black combat boots.

From the corner of her eye Jaina can see Kael’thas raise an eyebrow at her, at strange, wide smile settling on his face. Her first impulse is to turn on him to protest whatever inappropriate thing is about to come out of his mouth, but then they recognizes how the other woman’s body is littered with small bruises and cuts, and a single larger bruise just along her lowest rib that has already started assuming all sorts of colors. The sight immediately makes Jaina uneasy, and even though the are practically strangers, compared to any of the elf’s friends – a fact Jaina hates, by the way – _worried_ , to say the least.

Sylvanas is a few steps towards the couch, when she, about to also shed her pants, finally recognizes the other’s presence, and just halts. Her expression is tired, incredibly so, and there is a certain strain and emptiness in her expression, that the human has never seen on her. She supposes her roommate isn’t exactly a happy person, but still.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you would be here.” Sylvanas immediately offers neutrally, eyeing the both of them questioning from where she stands, and it suddenly occurs to Jaina that they have never seen each other during the day. Only early in the morning, or late in the evening. The taller woman seems to either not recognize she is half naked or doesn’t think any of it, tousled strains of blonde hair framing her sunken features.

 

“I, no… I was about to take a shower and leave, when Kael arrived….” Jaina vaguely gestures down at herself. “What happened to you?” She asks, the full extend of her worry now settling on her mind.

 

“Your shift doesn’t end until six. What happened?” Kael’thas inquires seriously. Jaina thinks she never saw him so much as a little bit worried about anything before. Now he looks like he just witnessed something unimaginably terrifying.

 

“Mission went south.” Sylvanas informs them curtly and eventually turns towards the couch again, visibly exhausted dropping onto the surface, barely managing to kick away her boots in the process. “Necromancers. One down, two injured.”

 

“That’s terrible!” Jaina replies, feels suddenly stupid for being unable to offer more consolation.

 

“Have you seen a healer?” Kael inquires getting up from his seat, hurriedly walks over, and bends over the backrest of the couch to inspect her wounds.

 

“Others needed them more urgently.” Sylvanas replies, and the man’s expression immediately darkens at her comment.

 

“You are not invincible….” he begins to scold, but then pauses. “How’s Vel?” he asks worriedly, somewhat pleading.

 

“Then it’s good there are currently two mages staring at my naked and bruised body.” the elf woman replies more energetically than before, although her sarcasm isn’t in full force yet. A soft, entirely inappropriate, blush starts to settle on Jaina’s face at the comment. “Vel is alive and well. Dropped me off. Insisted I rest while she goes to the hospital to look after the others. You know how she is.” Sylvanas adds with a wry smile.

 

“Thank the light.” Kael says, visibly relieved, and gestures for Jaina to join him at the couch. “Have you ever used your magic to heal someone?”

 

“No, I… I know the theory, but….”

 

“It’s okay, just give me your hand.” He instructs, not loosing any time, and gently places her other on top of Sylvanas’ scalp, while placing his own on the large bruise. “I’m going to use you as a conduit. I could do it alone, but the lower the individual magic level is, the better.” he informs the human.

 

The actual healing is a strange, tingling sensation to Jaina, and she watches in awe, as life starts to return to the elf’s features, while the magic is flowing through the three of them. Obviously the bruises aren’t gone, but the underlying damage is repaired, and in the end the taller woman almost looks like when she last saw her.

 

“As good as new.” Kael announces cheerfully, once the procedure is done. “Do you feel different? Are you suddenly attracted to me?” he inquires, prompting the woman on the couch to roll her eyes, confirming she is alive and well again.

 

“You should take a shower. The two of you, actually.” He quips, looking at the human and mockingly fan his own nose. “And then bedrest until tomorrow.” He suggestively waggles his eyebrows at them, but the gesture goes unnoticed as Sylvanas’ eyes already fell shut and Jaina is still kneeling next to her, the worry not entirely gone from her expression.

 

“Okay then.” Kael giggles to himself. “I’ll arrange everything as discussed. I’ll send you a message with the details.” he addresses the human. “And you. Be aware I know the protocol. No reporting in while on medical leave. I know you are the captain, but I swear to the Sunwell, I’ll have my father order your mother to bench you for a month if I learn you were prancing around the border like this! No matter to what incredibly overrated charity event I have to make an appearance with my beard to get him to.” the man warns, smiles and winks impishly at Jaina since Sylvanas can’t see his face.

 

They actually both take a shower after Kael is gone. At first Jaina suspects Sylvanas is simply going to fall into bed. But after they took their turns in the bathroom, the taller woman is surprisingly awake again, and settles in front of the TV in an unsurprisingly black hoodie and sweatpants. It’s the first time Jaina notices how long her hair actually is, even after being pulled into an elaborate knot on the back of her head, still falling over her shoulders. For once the elf isn’t going over the news, the shorter woman supposes she already knows the most important news of the day, but browses through the library of one demand shows and movies, her body wrapped up in an unadorned wool blanket.

 

“Do you know what you are in the mood for?” the mage inquires as casually as she can manage, after this afternoon’s happenings bent on actually getting to know her roommate. After all she is no immanent danger of getting evicted anymore, so she might as well, she tells herself.

 

“No. I don’t really watch anything but the news. Don’t get around to much actually.” the elf offers. “Any suggestions?”

 

“Well, if you are not intent on getting to invested into something, there is this new short series, _Thra_ _l_ _l_ , I want to check out. It’s like six hours whole. So you could finish it in two sittings.” Jaina establishes hesitantly, unsure whether she’s overstepping by assuming Sylvanas’ question implied her joining her.

 

“If you say so.” the elf replies, shrugs.

 

“Want to order some takeout first?” Jaina feels her way forward, still standing in the hall, now glad in yogapants and one of her oversize blue plaid shirt, eyeing the other woman.

 

“Pandaran?” Sylvanas simply replies, and the shorter woman only nods and hesitantly takes the seat next to her, wiping out her phone to order the food.

 

They are halfway through the second episode and the bottle of mana wine that Sylvanas had lying around, apparently some commemoration for saving a nightborne noble’s daughter, and the empty food containers sit on the coffee table in front of them. Somewhere after they finished their meal, and a lot of, well, small talk, the mage had shivered only so slightly, even insisting she wasn’t cold at all and it must have been something else, but the other woman was having none of it. And when she offered to get her own blanked the taller woman had simply waved aside and simply lifted her own blanket for her to crawl under and share their warmth. So they are now hurdled together, Jaina’s head maybe a bit too comfortably, she is going to think in the morning, resting against the elf’s shoulder, for simple practicality, the taller woman’s arm around Jaina’s back and gingerly holding onto her waist.

The mage can’t help but wonder about her so incredibly unapproachable roommate, who on the other hand also seems strangle free of reservations. Of course she knows what Kael has been insinuating all that time. But with the ease and friendliness, she has accepted her presence at her side with, so completely and utterly innocently, more honestly worried about her wellbeing and comfort than anything, she doesn’t really know what to make of it. In the end the whole thought seems absurd to her. Even if she was gay. They don’t even know each other. Kind of. – Okay, she is most definitely overthinking this, she concludes.

When the end of the seconds episode rolls around, the tall elf suddenly starts to shift, straightening out her posture and retracting her arm, breaking Jaina out of her trail of thought.

 

“I think I’m going to bed.” Sylvanas informs her politely. It’s only ten, but the human can understand how she would be too tired to keep going after this kind of day. Not even considering the stress her injuries must have caused on her body.

 

“Oh, _Uh_ , that’s good!” Jaina offers quickly, straightening out her posture herself. “Did you enjoy it?” She asks, lost for anything else to say.

 

“Kind of?” Sylvanas replies. “It wasn’t half bad. Although I’m ninety percent sure half of that never actually happened.”

 

“Oh, yeah, they took a lot of artistic liberties.” Jaina is quick to agree, immediately scolding herself for so inanely agreeing with her, even though she really liked it.

 

“Good night, Jaina.” Sylvanas takes her leave a moment later. “Just leave it; I’m going to take care of it tomorrow.” the taller woman stops in her tracks, vaguely gestures in between the couch and the TV. A moment later she is gone.

 

After that there is something different. A sort of understanding between them. Sylvanas spends the next few days at home, and Jaina is surprised how many actual hobbies and interests beyond her job she has. She knew the taller woman can cook, but she wasn’t aware she actually has any enthusiasm for the task she usually only performs out of necessity. And they actually hang out for once. – As Jaina learns the other woman’s sarcasm also makes for very good humor, once she actually cares to make jokes around you. But there is nothing akin to that strange feeling she had that evening. So it probably was _nothing_.

 

But she _would_ consider them friends now. She even comes to understand that strange sense of order the other woman always projects. She still thinks its an unnecessary waste of time to clean up after every step of a task instead of the task it self. But she sort of understands its inherent reasoning. And it’s not really slower as she always thought, she has to give her that. Just different. Still kind of bothersome. After the second day she even gives in to her impulse to let her in her little secret. Instead of threatening her over it, the taller woman actually scolds her for not saying something earlier.

 

 

 

 


	4. And That’s That

“How do I look?” Jaina steps into the living room and makes a little curtsy in front of her friends. The mage is clad in a dark navy blue pencil skirt that only barely doesn’t cover her knees and a completely buttoned up white blouse tugged into it, under a light, also navy blue cardigan. She wears her blonde hair in a not really fancy, but nonetheless elegant updo; Two braids leading to a curly bun on the back of her head. Her hands are folded in front of her body rather defensively, while she eyes the elves in a mixture of questioning ans hesitant.

Sylvanas looks up from the chessboard in between her and Vel, blinks just once and for a second basically stares at the human. Either she looks unbelievable horribly or exceptionally stunning, Jaina concludes. Probably the former though. Either way the taller woman is apparently lost for words.

 

“You look very smart JP; And professional!” Vel chimes in with honest enthusiasm, after turning around in her spot to get a better look at the blonde.

 

“Yes. If you are going for church of the light girl’s school teacher.” Kael comments and slides off the counter he is resting on and strides over where the human is still slightly fidgeting in her spot. He quickly reaches for her glasses, folds them and dumps them in one of the pockets of her messenger bag, before unceremoniously reaching for the collar of her blouse, undoing the top most button, revealing a little silver anchor she wears around her neck on a necklace. All while holding her slightly irritated gaze and smiling reassuringly, albeit with a roguish expression on his face. A moment later he reaches for her hands, and with a single swoop spins her in the spot, pulling the cardigan off her body.

 

“This is Silvermoon, sweetheart. You’ll die of a heatstroke around noon. The AC isn’t exactly good at the university.” He informs her lightly and rolls up both her sleeves to the elbows, before reaching up and lightly ruffling her hair without destroying the updo, only loosening the strain of silvery white hair from the side of her head and solitary tugging it behind her ear again. The woman still looks at him confused and somewhat irritated, to put it mildly.

 

“Sneakers?” He raises an eyebrow at her, pointedly looking down on her and at the offending item of clothing.

 

“They are comfortable, and I’m going to have to spend most of the day on my feet.” Jaina manages to defend herself, not entirely over his little make over yet, barely resisting the urge to reverse all the changes he made.

 

“Yes.” he replies in feign disbelieve, but then takes a step back, exaggeratedly stroking his chin and nodding to himself, before announcing “Better!”

 

“What do you think Vannas?” he inquires casually, taking a step aside to reveal Jaina to the other women again. Sylvanas is still looking at the human with same somewhat bedazzled expression, prompting Kael to grin at her widely.

 

“Sylvanas?” Vel inquires, and her voice apparently does the trick, because the taller elf woman begins to vividly shake her head.

 

“Yes. Looks good. Very teacher-y.” She hastily replies and uncomfortably shifts around, trying to compose herself.

 

“Are you wearing makeup?” Kael suddenly asks and turns the human’s head left and right by grabbing her chin.

 

“A little...” Jaina yelps.

 

“Marvelous job!” he says dryly and pauses. “I almost couldn’t tell.” He deadpans, but then lets go of her again. “Girl, you are a piece of work.”

 

“Why would I wear makeup to work?” Jaina asks. And her tone is so innocent, that the elf’s cheerful grimace visibly softens at that.

 

“There are other people at work?” he replies warmly. “Twenty something senior student athletes. Swim coaches. All sorts of hunks. And most of them are smart too!” he informs her with a smile. “So I’m told...” he adds, his smile morphing into another wide grin. The woman looks less than enthusiastic about his remarks, though.

 

“Or an amazon? Tall and handsome, with a great sense of humor, beautiful, shining hair, and a fabulous….” he waggles his eyebrows at her.

 

“Oh for the love of the light, leave her alone already. Can’t you see she isn’t interested?” Sylvanas cuts in strangely agitated before he can finish the sentence, practically jumping off her seat in protest, prompting the others to look at her questioning. Although Kael’s face is less questioning and more self-congratulatory – As per usual.

 

A long moment goes by in awkward silence, before Sylvanas speaks up again. “Do you need a ride to university? I have to go into headquarters today anyway. I can drop you off on the way.” she says sternly, but shoots Jaina a look that almost looks pleading.

 

“Yes. That would be really great actually.” the mage quickly replies, noticeably uncomfortable with the situation. “I don’t have a portal license. My old one expired.”

 

“ _I_ have.” Kael interjects, and hands her her staff that has been sitting in the corner of the living room until now, but Sylvanas is somehow already at the door, although still only clad in the black and gray plaid shirt and black leather pants, just putting on her, as usual pristine looking, pair of jump boots.

 

“Are you coming?” the elf woman asks, passive aggressively looking past the man and at the human mage, who for only a short moment shoots her a bewildered look, but then looks rather relieved, and hurriedly follows suit, only curtly saying good bye to the others, before leaving the apartment. When the shorter woman is already half way down the first flight of stairs, the tall elf woman turns towards her old friend, spreading her index and middle finger, pressing them to either side of her throat in a threatening gesture, then points at him, before following Jaina down the stairs.

 

 

 

 

 

Sylvanas _has_ the impulse to apologize for Kael’Thas’ behavior, but doesn’t know how to go about it, and Jaina is equally quiet after she has confirmed Sylvanas knows the route to the university. So they find themselves spending the somewhat long drive in silence.

 

“Do you mind putting on some music?” Jaina eventually asks. The taller woman only nods and gestures at the radio, but looks relieved. When the blonde pushes the button the quiet of the cabin is suddenly interrupted by the sound of very loud, but somewhat melodic metal music. Surprisingly its not the voice of an orc screaming a story of ancient war and honor into the microphone, but the sharp voice of an elf woman singing rather aggressively about the love between a princess and a simple soldier. Who apparently also is a woman, something that brings a little smile to Jaina’s face, considering how the other woman always scolds Kael for bringing _it_ up.

They are in a large and complex junction, so Sylvanas, who is visibly worried about the volume and the mage’s music taste, doesn’t manage to turn down the volume. When she eventually does, tries to put on some station instead, she is quiet surprised when Jaina swats her hand away, only turning down the volume herself.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know if you’d like this kind of music...” Sylvanas begins.

 

“I mean, I prefer the great Suramaran composers of the last century, but did you know that metal music and classic are closely related musically? It’s quite alright; The singer has a beautiful voice.” Jaina offers reassuringly, and the little tension between them dissipates immediately. “Would have taken you more for a fan of heavy Thalassian choral music.” she adds with a smile. She supposes both of them have been rather private when it comes to their taste in music until now, even multiple sets of headphones practically littering the different corners of their apartment.

 

“Most people don’t know that about the music.” Sylvanas replies warmly over the music. “It actually helps me relax. I mean, the loud instruments, combined with the crisp singing. Although Vel and I went to an _Or/Grim_ concert last year. That was really great actually….”

 

They spend the rest of the drive talking about the differences and similarities between the different kinds of music, a passion they, each in their own way, share. When they pull up in front of the magic building of the University of Quel’Thalas, Silvermoon City, awkward silence falls over the car again.

 

“So, _Uh_ , thank you for actually driving me out here. I mean, you are still on leave and….” Jaina begins strangely sheepishly.

 

“Do you know how you are going to get back in the evening?” Sylvanas asks nonchalantly, ignoring her rambling.

 

“No… I didn’t actually think about that… I guess I’ll hail a cab….” the shorter woman begins again, prompting the taller woman’s face to twist into a strange, vaguely disbelieving grimace.

 

“Of course you are not going to pay for a cab. When are you finished?”

 

“Around six. It would be like four, but its my first day, and the professor wants to go about some things.” Jaina starts to justify unnecessarily.

 

“Then I’m going to pick you up right here around six fifteen.” Sylvanas looks at the mage uncompromising.

 

“I… Okay. Thank you _so much_. I’ll make it up to you!” Jaina replies visibly thankful. Another moment goes by, with both of them kind of just lingering, the mage looking at her driver intensely, before suddenly, practically jumping out of the car with another ‘thank you’ and ‘Goodbye’. She even has to return to pick up her staff from the backseat, her expression a mixture of apologetic and embarrassed, before running off towards the door of the building, leaving Sylvanas blinking owlishly again, before simply shaking her head and driving off. She hates Kael so much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“How was your first day?” Sylvanas inquires as the human deposits her staff in the backseat again and climbs into the passenger seat. Jaina looks a little disheveled, one of her sleeves actually sporting a little burn and noticeably more strains of hair framing her face. Nonetheless she offers a happy smile.

 

“It was amazing. All the freshmen were so nice and attentive. Although we had a fire alarm at the lab introduction...” she adds frowning.

 

“How… I though you were teaching _arcane_ magic?” Sylvanas raises an eyebrow and starts the car.

 

“Yeah. But we have this elf girl, well not really a girl, you know what I mean, Salandria, she used to be an autodidact and can only do some fire magic. So I tried to explain to her how to draw from the light and the void at the same time and she concentrated really hard and accidentally produced fire. It’s nothing really.” Jaina iterates enthusiastically.

 

“And did she get it?” Sylvanas follows up, honestly interested.

 

“Yes, actually. In the end she managed to produce a simple form.” Jaina says proudly.

 

“That’s great.” the taller woman offers. “So, a success?”

 

“Yeah. Remind me to thank Kael for the opportunity.” Jaina slightly giggled, as the other woman’s face twisted into a little grimace.

 

“Do you want to grab some food?” Sylvanas asks unexpectedly, slightly hesitantly, but the shorter blonde’s face quickly turns excited at the suggestion.

 

“Yes, I’m starving. I forgot to bring my lunch because of all the commotion.”

 

“You haven’t eaten all day?” the elf looks at her almost comically worried.

 

“You are aware there is a canteen?” Jaina replies cheerily, but then quickly adds “What are you in the mood for?”

 

“We could actually go and visit Chen’s? It’s on our way home, and we already know the food.”

 

 

 

 

 

“...And the Sea Mist Rice Noodles for the beautiful girlfriend!” the old Pandaren places the other plate in front of the mage, prompting both women to immediately stop their pretty intense continuation of their earlier conversation and quickly avert their eyes, before starting to rapidly shake their heads in unison.

 

“We aren’t...” both of them begin simultaneously, but the old man is already on his way to the next table. Jaina only huffs at the misunderstanding, while the taller woman falls silence for a moment, before filling the silence between them with an “Enjoy your meal!” And that’s that.

 

 


	5. ARTWORK I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurray! Some artwork I through together. As always, well, not "always" as far as you are concerned, the quality is limited by the time I had at hand. There are many problems with the arms and a little with the proportions. Also, I don't have a concept of Jaina's face yet... Anyways... This Jaina is ON PURPOSE and little shorter than canon Jaina and also a Lefty.
> 
> Hope you still like :)


	6. Someone Will Get Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild-ish trigger warning for abuse. AND violance. Sorry the least spoilery I can put it.

Sylvanas is exceptionally grateful Kael’Thas is currently out on one of his day drinking sprees. Because if he was here, she would never be able to live this down. The elf woman is currently treated to the sight of her roommate doing her daily yoga slash stretching routine in the living room. It’s not like she is sneaking around or peeping – Jaina is well aware of her presence – but that’s beside the point. Because this, this is almost too much the bear, from a pure bodily function kind of point of view even. Well, she supposes she could always leave to alleviate her ‘peril’, but is currently unable to tear away her eyes from the human. Because firstly, she should reconsider he choice of attire, because these leggings and sports bra are maybe a little too good at their job. Secondly – And she can’t stress enough how physical prowess is a basic requirement in their field of work, so she is not disputing the merits of fitness – who the fuck is able to put their own foot behind the _opposite_ side of their head, while doing some sort of weird handstand? The way the long french braid rearranges itself along her body and around her neck every time she changes poses doesn’t help. _At all_.

So Sylvanas subconsciously slides ever lower behind the counter, her upper body still somehow propped up on her elbows, basically hiding her face behind her coffee mug. Maybe she should just admit defeat. Luckily, a still too long, moment later, Jaina apparently is done with her workout, quickly gets back on her feet, and like the friendly, cheerful person she is, just saunters over to the kitchen, picking up the water bottle already sitting on the counter. Little, barely noticeable sweat beads are running down the visibly portions of her body and face, and she blows at the white strain of hair obfuscating her field of view, before taking a chug from her water.

Sylvanas blinks owlishly, is unsure whether she would be able to sink any lower behind the counter – If Jaina doesn’t hurry, she’s going to beat her to the (cold) shower – when the shorter woman’s head suddenly snaps around, now intensely eyeing the elf.

 

“What’s with your ears?” She asks, honest worry in her voice.

 

“My ears?” Sylvanas replies defensively and reflexively reaches up to check on them.

 

“They are almost pointing upwards?” Jaina explains. “Are you not feeling well?”

 

“They... my… what?” the elf replies even more defensively, now actively pulling the tips of her ears downwards. Pleading with whoever would be willing to hear her, for the shorter woman to never read up on elvish physiology… or bring it up to Kael for that matter.

 

“No. it’s probably nothing. I’m just tired.” She tries to salvage, and apparently Jaina believes her, because she just shrugs and smiles friendly.

 

“Are you preparing dinner tonight?” the shorter woman asks as she picks up her towel. It’s not that she would ever ask, or let alone demand of the elf to do this; But they have established this little ritual over the past weeks, to spend the evenings, that both of their schedules allow it together. Which is mostly on Sylvanas’ free days and early shifts. Although recently the professor and Jaina are also working on some calculations regarding the result of on of their research related experiments that yielded results that didn’t add up. So she doesn’t always return on time either. At one occasion she even stayed at the lab overnight, which created quite the…. altercation between the roommates. – She still doesn’t understand why.

 

“Yeah.” the elf replies curtly. “I was going to make a vegetarian Sailor’s Pie?”

 

“But that’s my favorite.” Jaina replies slightly irritated. It almost sounds like protest. “And it’s so much work. You really don’t have to.” she goes on reasoning. The shorter woman can’t know the decision had just been made three minutes ago.

 

“It really isn’t. And you know cooking isn’t just work for me. Also, as far as I’m concerned, you are going to skip lunch anyway. So there at least is something to look forward to?” the taller woman argues.

 

“Fair enough.” Jaina concedes. “Make sure to only use vegetarian sailors!” she giggles at her own joke. A remark her dad used to make, back when she was little, and that always made five year old Jaina laugh. Even in this state Sylvanas can’t help but roll her eyes at the joke.

 

The tall elf is about to compose herself again, when her roommate eventually turns away and starts wandering down the hall towards the bathroom, giving her a rather good view off the shorter woman’s rear, prompting Sylvanas to quietly grumble at her, obviously entirely Kael’Thas fueled, misery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What do you think?” Jaina addresses the young woman next to her. Both of them are staring at the whiteboard filled with formulas and calculations.

 

“Looks correct to me.” Salandria replies and shrugs. During the past weeks the girl has made evident the fact, that what ever prowess she is missing in the actual magic department, she compensates for in math skills tenfold. “But where did the anomaly come from?”

 

“If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the solution.” Professor Salonar supplies from the corner of the room where he is resting against a wall, and makes his way over to the board, picking up a marker and underlining a part of the equation.

 

“Somewhere in the general vicinity of the lab someone used arcane magic or an enchanted item with exactly this power.”

 

“That’s it?” the blonde girl asks disappointedly.

 

“I fear so.” the older elf replies warmly, clearly appreciating her enthusiasm. “It’s already late. Go home Ladies. Good work you two.” he smiles at the pair of them, before making his way over to his office with a wave of his hand.

 

“Oh shit.”slips out of Jaina’s mouth. Past ten. _Di_ _nner_.

 

“I… do you need a lift?” she raises an eyebrow at the girl. “I totally forgot about the time….”

 

“But I live at the dorm just across the street.” the younger woman replies with a smile. Her teacher really can be scatterbrained sometimes.

 

“Oh, right...” Jaina replies curtly, still int process of hurriedly throwing all her things into her messenger bag. But before she can finish the task the door of the classroom opens, revealing a somewhat disgruntled, albeit also worried looking Sylvanas barging right in.

 

“You are not answering your phone.” she greets the other woman outright accusatory.

 

“I’m sorry, we were in the middle of something...” Jaina begins.

 

“I already figured.” the tall elf comments sarcastically, but procures a large object wrapped in tinfoil form the plastic bag she brought. “I didn’t know how long you would be staying. So I brought the food.”

 

Salandria looks in between them slightly confused, trying to figure out what’s going on. The human only blinks for a moment, then her thoughts apparently trail back to reality. “ _Oh_ , _Uh_ , we are done here. We can eat at home if you want.” she offers.

 

“You are Salandria, right?” Jaina’s roommate asks nonchalantly, ignores her reply. The girl only nods. Although her confusion deepens at the realization the woman actually knows her name. “I brought enough. You can join us.” Sylvanas shrugs at the younger women. Salandria’s expression immediately starts to light up at the offer. “Thanks so much!”

 

“I’m Sylvanas by the way.” the taller woman begins to spread out a number of paper plates and sets of real cutlery on the table in the front without further ado.

 

“I’m still Miss Proudmoore. But that’s actually really thoughtful of you.” Jaina establishes, still a little surprised by Sylvanas’ preparedness.

 

“Didn’t know what you’d be doing and how many there would be of you.” the other woman just shrugs again. “But don’t think I’m not mad at you for not coming home earlier.” It’s kind of obvious she is joking, but there is a very measured seriousness about the comment. “Next time I’m bringing MREs instead.”

 

“I’m sorry. It smells delicious already.” Jaina apologizes again and takes a seat opposite of her student who nods agreeing. Salandria on her part for a moment contemplates asking the human the obvious question, because she’s really gonna need some context here, but then hesitates, because the other woman kind of looks mean. Or, well, unapproachable at least, and she doesn’t want to make things worse for her teacher. What ever that’d mean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Your girlfriend seems pretty nice.” Salandria begins after playing out a number of approaches to the conversation in her head, and deciding the direct one would be the best. The two of them are currently walking down towards the cafeteria after a regular class. She doesn’t really know why she is so focused in this particular teacher, she supposes all of them are at least as nice as her. The human starts to flail her arms and hands defensively at her comment, accompanied by a number of very undignified noises coming from her mouth.

 

“I… we are not...” she quickly replies, but is interrupted by a male voice calling out her name from behind them, and immediately freezes up at the sound of the familiar voice, prompting the young woman to give her a questioning look before turning around to look at the source.

 

A tall, hunky man with long blond hair and a three-day beard, is quickly approaching them, now that they are stationary.

 

“Jaina!” He says again, and suddenly the older woman starts to pull Salandria along towards the nearest building. “Keep moving.” She instructs very agitated.

 

“Stop, I just want to talk.” he calls out again but goes unheeded.

 

“There is nothing to talk about.” Jaina calls out over her shoulder, but doesn’t so much as turn her head, only increasing their step to a light jog, and Salandria can see something like fear in her eyes.

 

 

 

 

“Who was that?” the young woman asks worriedly as soon as they are standing in one of the magic professor’s office, their secretary giving them a questioning look, while Jaina still struggles to compose herself.

 

“That was my… my _ex … boyfriend_.” her teacher informs the girl shakily. “We weren’t… it didn’t….”

 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.” Salandria wraps her arms around the woman, doesn’t let go for at least a minute. “Should we call Sylvanas to pick you up?” she inquires gingerly, testing out the other woman’s name in her absense.

 

“No, I don’t want her to worry.” Jaina immediately replies stubbornly. “I’ll just hail a cab this evening.”

 

The girl isn’t really convinced by her answer and spends the rest of the day not leaving her side. Luckily she is quick to make friends, and has already arranged for all of them to get her the notes from the other classes. Despite the woman’s protests, she even inconspicuously waits outside while Jaina is teaching another, more advanced class. And sighs a breath of relieve when she eventually sends her off in the afternoon. A few days go by without another incident, and the girl eventually decides against passing over the human and informing her girlfriend anyway. Although she still has a somewhat bad feeling about the whole thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Arthas, what are you doing here?” Sylvanas can hear the shorter woman’s voice from the door. It has a strange quality to it she thinks she never heard, and it makes her somewhat alert. Although she doesn’t act on it. Yet.

“Jaina, I told I just want to talk. Please come home. Things… Things have changed. I have….” he implores, and Sylvanas can hear him step in by the sound of his step changing with the different kind of flooring.

 

“No, Arthas, I… we are done.” her human roommate replies, her voice slowly descending into something like fear.

 

“No, look… I’m not… Please come with me.” he says again, followed by another sound of protest.

 

“I’m glad you have changed. But I’m not interested. Please leave.” the mage says, her voice is vaguely determined, but wavering and riddled with rising panic, and Sylvanas can hear her take a step back.

 

“You are not listening. I have changed, you have to come back.” his voice grows impatient, louder.

 

“No. Let go of me.” Jaina replies, quasi cries out, prompting Sylvanas to straighten out her body on the couch, getting a grasp of the scene. The man, apparently his name is Arthas, has the shorter woman’s wrist in his hold, now looking over to where the other woman is look at him.

 

“Who the fuck are you?” he inquires sharply, obviously threateningly.

 

“You have five seconds to let go of her.” comes the apparently unexpected reply, because he suddenly full on turns towards Sylvanas.

 

“Then what?” he replies angrily, although with a wary expression on his face.

 

“Four.”

 

“Come on Jaina we are leaving.”

 

“No...”

 

“Three.”

 

“Stuck up bitch.” he rattles the shorter woman’s arm to get her follow his instructions.

 

“Let go of me!”

 

“Two.”

 

“Bitch, back off, before someone gets hurt.” the man snaps at the elves, builds himself up in between her and Jaina even more, violently pulling her behind him by her wrist he still holds onto.

 

“ _Oh_ , _someone_ will get hurt, alright.” Sylvanas replies dangerously calm, and slowly gets up from the couch. “One.”

 

“No, please….” Jaina pleads, sheer terror in her voice.

 

“As you will.” he spats confidently, lets go of the shorter woman and starts winding up a punch to throw at the now rapidly approaching elf.

 

When he finally attacks her, Sylvanas easily dodges the almost feral attempt at her face, by simply tilting her head to side and with a deliberate swipe of her left completely deflects his right straight before snaking her arm around his and trapping it under hers. He follows up with a less apt and already noticeably panicked left that the elf redirects upwards, and in the same motion grabs onto the opposite side of his neck, with a simple push to his face levering him into what looks like a hip throw. She doesn’t actually throw him down though, and instead uses the helpless spin of his body to turn him around and away from her, in one fluid motion no holding his slightly bend body in a choke hold under her arm, and as she does pulls his arm around herself, until a violent cracking sound can be heard, that’s quickly followed by him crying out in pain, as his arm, devoid of tension, starts to tangle limply from his side. What feels to Jaina like a split second later the taller woman spins towards him and with downward hook of her free arm punches the center of his chest as she lets go of him. The sound of air leaving his lungs in an audibly painful exhale can be heard as his body hits the floor.

 

Listen to me. And listen carefully.” Sylvanas says, terrifyingly calmly, putting her boot on his knee, and forcefully rolling around the joint under it. His face looks like he is in incredibly pain, but he’s unable to make a sound, still struggling to regain his breath.

 

“If I, or _anybody_ , sees you so much as _in_ Silvermoon, let alone around Jaina, a broken arm will be the least of your problems. You are not calling, texting, sending flowers. You are not going to look at her. What ever business you have with her is over.” she informs him, and grabs onto the collar of his jacket, now dragging him towards the door. “Or the next time we see each other you will be dangling head first from a beam, somewhere far far away from where anybody will be suspecting you, looking down at a pool of your own blood while I take you apart with a dull instrument, smallest joint to largest.” she threatens, still incredibly calm.

 

As soon as the door closes behind him, or what's left of him, she immediately turns towards Jaina, who still stands in her place, _still_ practically frozen.

 

“Are you alright? How is your wrist?” the taller woman pulls her into a hug. The embrace is such an unfamiliar, out of character thing, that Jaina somehow immediately snaps out of it. Now big tears rolling down her face, as she pulls the elf’s body closer to her own.

 

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t… I didn’t….” She begins, but Sylvanas immediately interrupts her.

 

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You know that, right?”

 

“No, I could have...” Jaina begins again, and again is shushed by the other woman, who somehow navigates them to the couch, while aptly operating her phone behind her bag, still hugging Jaina in the process.

About eight minutes and forty seconds later the apartment is crowded with her elf friends, including her favorite student, who Kael’Thas has picked up on his way over, courtesy of his portal license. All of them now resting on and in front of the couch as soon as they manage to untangle Vel, who at first refused to let go of her after hearing what happened, from the human. In the end they take turns comforting her, while Sylvanas prepares dinner for all of them, only so often checking up on her herself, even while handling the food, all of them offering words of encouragement and support. Over and over telling her how non of this is her fault, the triplets enthusiastically demonstrating how to best hit someone, using Kael as a punching bag. Although all of them know the conceptional ability to _punch_ someone wasn’t the issue here, considering their human friend, despite some of her technical shortcomings, is one of the most powerful mages in her age group, as Kael had told them in secret before.

 

When Jaina awakes in the morning she is comfortably resting against her roommate with her arm around her, the two of them framed by Salandria, who is practically sleeping in her lap on the one side, and Vel, who has both of them in a vague, wide hug on the other. The shorter elf’s sisters are currently using Kael’s body as a pillow at their feet, the three of them somehow entirely covered by Sylvanas’ blanket. With a strange feeling of relieve she falls asleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck Arthas in particular.
> 
> Sorry, I'm not mean enough of a person to think this kind of dialogue up. Hope its still okay.


	7. ARTWORK II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since not all of you are probably scouring the sylvaina tag on tumblr on a daily basis, here the final version of the image. Have a nice day! :)


	8. It's been too long

Jaina’s reading – for once she does it mainly to distract herself – is interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. She looks up from the book and over to where Sylvanas is doing the dishes that are left from their collective breakfast this morning. A little shiver goes down the human’s back, and the taller woman immediately jumps at that. ‘Doesn’t even go answer the door but rather moves to comfort her, but the mage gestures for her to take it, albeit with a pursed smile. Even if it’s not really reassuring, she knows Arthas well enough to know he won’t appear at their door again. Ambush her at work? A totally different thing. But the professor was quick to practically force her to take a few personal days. So there is that.

Sylvanas still opens the door with a noticeable amount of caution. Of course Jaina can’t help but look who it is, fear rising again once the door starts to open. She can’t really make out who is at the door, but she can see her roommates posture ease the second the door is open, so she quickly calms down too.

A moment later an elf with crimson hair and eyes glowing soft gold enters. The woman’s posture and whole demenor somehow immediately reminds Jaina of her roommate. In her own way strong and formidable, but more solemn, almost aristocratic. Before Jaina can give it any more thought, both women suddenly greet each other with sort of secret handshake fist bump ritual, followed by a very friendly hug.

 

“Captain.” the other elf greets the blonde. A roguish grin on her face.

 

“Captain.” Sylvanas replies bantering.

 

“Sylph, it’s been too long.” the redhead offers warmly.

 

“Your wedding.” Sylvanas supplies, motioning for her to join them at the counter.

 

“The wedding?” the other elf confirms. “Almost a year ago.”

 

“Sorry, for not being in touch.” the blonde elf offers.

 

“No, please, we’ve all been busy.” their guest waves her hand dismissively.

 

“How’s your wife?” Sylvanas asks, prompting Jaina to raise an eyebrow at the fact she is actually making small talk. Like, actual small talk.

 

“Off to _work_ ” the other elf makes air quotes.

 

“Do you know where to?”

 

“No. Don’t want to know actually. Makes me sleep better.”

 

“I see.”

 

“But she calls every day to let me know she’s still alive.” the elf jokes slightly melancholic.

 

A second later they both become aware of Jaina’s presence again, and the blonde elf slightly grimaces at her inconsideration.

 

“Jaina, meet Captain Liadrin Vandellor, an old shield sister, and the greatest paladin the army ever had.” there is an honest admiration to the way the taller elf introduces her old friend.

 

“Awe, come on, don’t be so modest. If it wasn’t for you guys being miles behind enemy lines, all our smiting would be for nothing.” the redhead give back.

 

“You were a paladin?” Jaina inquires intrigued.

 

“If it wasn’t obvious.” Liadrin smiles friendly and lets her eyes flare in bright golden light for emphasis. “Although they say there is no such thing as an ex paladin.” she adds with a wink.

 

 

“I’m here on official business, though.” the redhead establishes after a short moment, pointedly looking and Jaina, then quickly back at Sylvanas.

 

“I figured it wasn’t a courtesy visit.” the other elf nods, a serious expression settling on her face.

 

“We have got a report from an _Arthas Menethil_ who claims you assaulted him, and broke his arm. Saw your name in the database. And since I’m such a diligent boss, I’m currently relieving my officers’ workload.”

 

For a second Sylvanas looks over to Jaina hesitantly before answering, only after the human just so slightly nods her agreement. “He trespassed; Refused to leave when asked; And tried to abduct my roommate.”

 

The reply prompts the other elf to look over at Jaina again. If anything, her expression is sympathetic.

 

“Report says they are married.” she informs them a moment later. “But...”

 

“That’s not true!” the human cuts in before Sylvanas can even open her mouth to protest. “We are divorced. I can get you the papers.” she exclaims agitated by the _accusation_ , jumps off her seat, already halfway to her room.

 

“No, please calm down. It’s okay.” Liadrin pauses, a soft, strangely reassuring expression on her face. “As I was saying...” she begins again, once the mage is in her spot again. “ _But_ , I inquired with the Family Court of Lordaeron, and this turned out to be false.”

 

 

“Did he hurt you?” the redhead inquires, once Jaina’s tension eases over the revelation. To her great amusement her old friend displays the same effect.

 

“No he just...”

 

“Yes.” Sylvanas corrects immediately. “Her wrist is bruised, and her shoulder might be strained from the struggle.”

 

“Do you want to press charges?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No. I just want it to be over.” Jaina insists. “Please.”

 

The elves spend a moment looking at each other, then only nod.

 

“So, let me summarize this quickly, just to confirm I got everything right. Your ex husband showed up unannounced, forced entry. You then asked him to leave but he didn’t, upon which he tried to force you to leave with him. Then your roommate intervened on your behalf, defending you and your home, putting him to flight.” the redhead tabs her notepad with her pen a few times, then turns to the women with a questioning expression.

 

“Yes. That’s correct. And he attacked me first, too.” Sylvanas adds.

 

“Saw the guy at the station. Guess he didn’t know what he got himself into. Sign here.” She hands Jaina the form.

 

“He got off lightly.” the blonde elf comments.

 

“I don’t think he appreciates that fact, at all. Can I see your wrist?” Liadrin asks gently. “I’ll take a few photos for the files, if that’s okay with you.”

 

“Okay.” Jaina says, still hesitantly, and offers her hand for the elf to take.

 

“Given the circumstances you won’t have to make an appearance in court. I’ll advice the DA to not press charges or pursue the matter any further.” she informs them calmly. Another short moment goes by in silence, as the redhead takes the photos.

 

“Do you want me to heal you?” she asks once she is done.

 

“Oh, yeah, we didn’t even think of that yesterday.” Jaina replies meekly, still noticeably uncomfortable with the whole situation.

 

“Have you been healed only using the light before?” the paladin asks gingerly, folding up the sleeves of Jaina’s blouse a little more.

 

“No. I’m Kul’Tiran; We have very good healing.” the blonde mage informs them half-jokingly, and makes a weak attempt at a smile.

 

“It certainly tingles a bit, but isn’t unpleasant.” Liadrin establishes, gently running the tips of her fingers over the deep blue and green spots on the short woman’s skin. “Some people describe a light euphoria following the light running through their body. It will fade within an hour.” she smiles warmly, as she places the joint in between her hands.

 

“Ready?”

 

“Yes.”

 

The soft golden glow in the redhead’s eyes intensifies for a few seconds, and Jaina can feel something akin to the tingly sensation she felt when Kael was healing Sylvanas back then. After only a short moment the procedure is done, and any sign of her injury are gone. She would even say it feels... good. In a strange, being wrapped in a warm blanket kind of way.

 

“See? All better.” Liadrin playfully slaps the human’s wrist. “I took a look at your shoulder while I was healing you, and it’s just the smallest of strain, nothing I can do about it.”

 

“Thank you.” Jaina smiles at her, now noticeably more calm than before.

 

“How is _he_?” Sylvanas asks, once Jaina folds down her sleeve again slightly tilting her head, prompting the mage to look between the elves questioning at the sudden change of topic.

 

“He is still an asshole. But he’s my asshole, and he didn’t take it well. You didn’t hear that from me.” the ginger elf sighs loudly. “How’s the other one doing?”

 

“The usual. Drunkenly whoring his way through the gentry.” the taller elf replies sarcastically, rolls her eyes.

 

The former paladin only wrinkles her nose disapprovingly. “These fucking idiots. _Oh_ , and how is Lulu?” she adds nonchalantly.

 

“ _Lulu_ , is currently doing my shift so I can stay with Jaina.” there is an amused edge to how Sylvanas repeats what Jaina assumes must be Velonara’s nickname. “But otherwise she is doing great. – Well you know her. Still single….”

 

“Because no one can keep up with her.” Liadrin supplies with a knowing smile. For a moment both elves fall silent, as they share a look, the redhead very subtly nodding in Jaina’s general direction, followed by the blonde elf equally lightly shaking her head. Liadrin raises an eyebrow at her, but doesn’t receive any kind of response, then shrugs. Although a roguish smile creeps onto her face, when she notices Jaina narrowing her eyes at their exchange.

 

“Tell her I said hello…. And that would be all. If there is any more _trouble_ with Mister Menethil…. Don’t hesitate to call me directly. And maybe we can catch up for real sometime soon? You are invited too, obviously.” the redhead smiles at Jaina reassuringly. The mage only sheepishly nods her agreement, still somewhat confused eyeing the elves. There strange meeting ends with the same strange sequence of gestures it began with, followed by a friendly “Don’t be a stranger!” on Liadrin’s part.

 

““Give Valeera my regards too; And stay safe out there!” Sylvanas replies seriously.

 

“Because all the suits hiding in Sunfury are _so_ much more dangerous, than what’s creeping around the border.” the redhead quips.

 

“Depends on your perspective.”

 

“I think I can deal with them alright.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The elves spend the next few days watching and accompanying Jaina on her every step, even though they know from intelligence, they… _received_ , that the man in question indeed left Silvermoon the day he filed the report against them. Somehow neither of them has expected anything else. Still, even with that knowledge, the blonde mage is noticeably affected by what happened.

 

“Sylvanas, do you...” Jaina begins, absentmindedly wandering into the other woman’s bedroom, intent on inquiring about their dinner plans. Since the elf has left the door to her room ajar, she is expecting her to sharpen her weapons, or sitting cross legged on the bed, going over reports and other paper work – The door has never been really closed during the last week, so Jaina would never feel alone.

Instead the mage finds the tall elf with her back towards the door, changing her clothes. A messy bun fixes a large part of her hair on top of her head. Even though Jaina greets her pretty clearly, she at first doesn’t react to her presence, and finishes undoing her bra, and is halfway through turning around to grab the change of clothes sitting in an orderly stack on top of her bed, when she barely in time registers Jaina’s presence.

The mage suddenly doesn’t even dare to blink at the sight. The defined muscles of her upper back holding onto her strong shoulders, while her athletic Latissimi wrap around her midriff, their defined ridges vanishing under the brim of the black leggings she is still wearing. _And she is still turning._ But then Sylvanas’ eyes go wide with surprise, and the elf immediately pulls her headphones from her ears and around her neck, quickly turning away again; Now fishing for her underwear on the surface of the bed behind her. She supposes there is nothing the other woman hasn’t seen already – Or sees on a daily basis – but still has the strange impulse to cover herself up. Which admittedly is an impulse the military woman is almost completely unfamiliar with. At least when it comes to her own bedroom.

 

“ _Jaina_. Is something wrong? Be there in a minute!” she informs her hurriedly, _worried_ , already fidgeting with the clasp of her new bra.

The mage stands quasi petrified in her spot, in the meantime has somehow managed to look away, eyes now trained on her own feet. Only now begins to slowly back out of the room, trying to will the circulation of her face, that’s suddenly on overdrive for some reason, to slow down. _Unsuccessfully._

 

“No, I.. _Uh_ … I’m _so_ sorry. I didn’t mean to… I’ll wait outside!”

 

 

To Jaina’s great relieve the taller woman doesn’t bring up their little altercation at all. In all honestly she isn’t even sure what it was that set her off so much about that. She has seen her countless times wrapped in a towel, or just wearing her underwear. _Or a tight fitting catsuit_. How was this any different? Also, why is her memory of the elf in that weird camo thing so vivid?


	9. Is there something you want to tell me?

So her roommate is straight after all. So much for that, _Kael’Thas_. – It’s not that Sylvanas would have believed in such figment anyway. – She doesn’t have some ill-fated crush on her or the likes. Nonetheless the revelation, the whole _situation_ , keeps her mind occupied, even after their everyday life returns to relative normalcy. Especially considering all the things she found out afterwards.

 

“What did that poor punching bag do to you?” Vel chimes in, hanging upside down from the pull-up bar next to her. Sylvanas has been mauling the large brown object with a continues series of very fast alternating kicks for the better part of five minutes. Contrary to the shorter elf’s expectations the intensity and violence only growing over time.

 

“Nothing.” her superior spits in between breaths. “I’m just in the mood.” she adds a few breaths and docents of kicks later.

 

“I can see that.” Vel comments, somewhat amused, rocking back and forth, her legs hooked over the bar, arms crossed in front of her body. “’Can’t force you to talk ‘bout it.” she shrugs.

 

“My bag. There’s a file.” Sylvanas eventually grunts, not ceasing to attack the punching bag.

 

On that cue the shorter elf quickly jumps of the equipment with a little back flip, and makes her way over to where the other woman’s gym bag is sitting on one of the wooden benches next to them. Just on top of all the other contents of the bag sits a single somewhat official looking file. When she opens it there is still her usual happy smile on her face, but the expression fades once she takes a look inside.

 

“ _What the fuck?_ ” slips out of her mouth a second later. “Is this for real?” a mixture of sadness and anger quickly takes hold of her expression.

 

“Yes.” Sylvanas stops striking her target, shoots her friend a grim look that matches hers.

 

“You should have killed him.” Vel states icy, all her friendliness gone from her voice, and turns another page, narrowing her eyes, as she read through the documents.

 

“ _That_ was their reasoning?” she asks angrily, clenches her fists around the paper. “ _If she wanted she could have_ _easily_ _vaporized him._ ” the shorter woman pauses for a moment. “You know what? I’m going to find that judge who thought that was a compelling argument, and vaporize _him_.” she announces, still staring at the contents of the file, can’t tear her gaze away from the dark blue and brown spots on their human friend’s younger self.

 

“The judge’s a woman.” the elf frowns a second later, flipping back and forth through the document.

 

“Doesn’t like mages.” Sylvanas informs her neutrally, but the way she throws the water bottle she just took a jug from away says it all.

 

“ _Light_ , I hate Lordaeron. Almost still the dark ages.” Vel huffs incredulously. The taller woman only hums agreeing.

 

“Wait, does Jaina know you got the file?” the shorter elf inquires seriously.

 

“No. Liadrin got it for me.” Sylvanas admits and purses her lips, because her subordinate – friend – if anything is moral and honest.

 

“So, what are we going to do about this?” Vel asks, not addressing the other elf’s supposed invasion of the human’s privacy.

 

“Nothing. We are going to be there and care for her as much as we can if she needs it. _That’s an order_.” Sylvanas replies sternly, finality in her voice.

 

“Okay.” the shorter elf replies, or better _huffs_ , and mock salutes, her voice laced with protest and slight anger.

 

“And don’t tell her we know.”

 

“But...”

 

“I know what you think. And I agree. But look how she reacted. I don’t want her to think we might think any less of her, just because she didn’t _vaporize him._ ” the taller elf slightly rolls her eyes, visibly annoyed by the notion itself.

 

“You are probably right.” Vel concedes, another sad expression playing on her face; Her friend is already taking out her emotions on the inanimate object in front of her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the middle of the night, when little ice crystals start to completely frost the window, and its not long until Sylvanas can see the cold vapor of her breath. With a little sigh she calmly puts away the tablet she was checking out recipes on away, and closes the file in front of her she has studiously avoided actually going over, then slowly gets up, and cautiously makes her way over to the other woman’s room. It’s already the second time this happened, and if anything the last thing she wants is spellbreakers showing up at their doorstep in the middle of the night, because some overly meticulous old lady couldn’t help herself. Also, she hates spellbreakers.

Even though it’s been over a week, they still keep their doors open at all times, so she doesn’t have any trouble looking for Jaina. As expected her human roommate is sleeping very unruly, frequently squirming and turning sides, every movement of her body conjuring another small wave of cold. Sylvanas spends a short moment just watching her, observing, and hoping it might stop on its own, but its no use.

 

“Jaina.” she quietly addresses her, still standing in the door frame, not wanting to intrude on the sanctity of her room, but unsurprisingly doesn’t receive an answer. She tries again, but with the same result. She sighs quietly, then carefully approaches the edge of the bed, slowly kneeling down next to it, folding her hands in her lap, for another moment only watching again. When the next quiet whine comes she instinctively reaches out, takes the mages and gently squeezes it. A moment later the shorter blonde’s eyes flutter open, staring at the elf disoriented and confused, with a questioning expression on her face.

“You did it again.” Sylvanas gingerly explains and hastily lets go of her hand, feeling caught, even though there was nothing remotely improper about the gesture. Jaina narrows her eyes at her, still visibly confused about the situation, before it eventually clicks.

 

“I’m sorry.” She replies sheepishly, slightly averts her eyes in the half dark of the room.

 

“Don’t be.” Sylvanas immediately replies strongly, albeit with an empathetic expression. “Nothing of this is your fault.”

 

“I know.” the other woman replies weakly, and offers a wry smile.

 

“Has this happen before?” the elf asks warmly, doesn’t take her eyes off Jaina. “The magic.” She clarifies.

 

“Yeah. When I was little. That’s how my parents discovered I had it.” she pauses is if to contemplate her words. “I was sad about…. Something. My parents tried to comfort me, but I was very upset. That night I apparently froze all the water in the fountain in the courtyard. I don’t really remember. I was like four.”

 

“What did you do about it then?” Sylvanas follows up carefully. The mage turns on her back and sits up on the bed, now fully awake.

 

“It went away when I grew olden, I guess. Even before I started training.” the human remembers and rubs her eyes.

 

“And before?” the taller woman inquires, aware she avoided the question, but still notices the cold slowly going away the longer they talk. At her question the shorter woman suddenly becomes visibly a little anxious and hesitant.

 

“Well, _Uh_ , when it happened usually my father picked me up and carried me to my parents bedroom without waking me. It apparently doesn’t happen when I’m not alone.” the blonde explains timidly.

 

“I see.” Sylvanas replies softly and can’t help but avert her eyes at the implication. A long moment goes by with both women eyeing their own hands in silence, before Jaina eventually breaks the silence.

 

“Would you stay with me?” she asks meekly, not lifting her gaze. “I mean, like, we don’t have to cuddle or anything… Just; Would you hold my hand? You can lie down on the bed. I don’t mind.” she adds hesitantly but then apparently changes her mind. “You probably still have a lot of work to do… I totally understand….” She quickly relativizes, suddenly feeling more and more like the little girl she used to be.

 

“No. I’m done for the day. I was going to catch up on the last reports over breakfast.” the elf quickly replies, mostly truthful. “Scoot over.” she instructs, forcing a somewhat cheerful tone, trying to make light of the situation, and Jaina does as she is told.

The bed is by far big enough for both of them, and so Sylvanas easily manages to comfortably place her body besides the mage’s, and gingerly slides closer until their bodies barely not touch, still clinging to whatever concept of appropriate might apply to the situation. Unsure how to go about it, she then turns towards her and places her hand in between them for the other woman to take it. At that Jaina slowly slides down into a lying position again, for a moment eyeing the hand undecisively, before finally grabbing onto it.

 

“Do you want to get under the blanket? It’s a double, I don’t mind.” she offers innocently. The tall elf nods, or more lets her head move in a circle that could be vaguely interpreted as a nod, so Jaina throws the, admittedly pretty large, blanket over both of them with her other hand.

 

“I’m sorry.” the blonde offers again. “Do you want the pillow?”

 

“No. It’s alright; I’ve slept far more uncomfortably. And stop apologizing.” Sylvanas lightly chastises, her eyes pointedly closed already, head resting on the back of her hand.

 

Also either of them could have gotten Sylvanas’ bedding from her room – _details_.

 

“Okay.” the human replies quietly, only the smallest crack in her voice.

 

Neither of them cares for the dim shine of the elf’s bedside lamp illuminating the outer parts of the room through the still half open door, and Jaina slightly awkwardly wiggles in her spot until she’s completely comfortable.

 

“Good night.” she says ruefully before finally closing her eyes.

 

“Good night.” the elf replies warmly, gingerly squeezing the shorter woman’s hand for emphasis.

 

 

 

 

 

Sylvanas wakes to the blackbird’s song outside the half open window unmistakably announcing the sun. She is strangely disoriented and takes a moment for her to even remotely becoming aware of her surroundings. She is somehow held in place on her back, and apparently something is weighting her down and trapping her arm. She is actually to drowsy to give it more thought at the moment, something seems to be wrong with her bed too – It’s somehow very soft. – and slowly opens her eyes ajar. She is greeted by a pile of blonde hair resting on the center of her body, softly moving up and down with her every breath. The blonde ball is attached to her roommates form, the shorter woman’s body comfortably resting on top of her, her arms wrapped around her under the blanket.

 

It takes at least a little willpower for the tall elf to not immediately jump at the sight, and she carefully adjusts her body into a more manageable pose for her slightly sore limbs, without disturbing the human’s sleep. She does remember the past evening now, and lets a little sigh escape her. It’s not that she specifically dreaded this to happen, but she can’t shake the feeling there is something inappropriate about the whole situation, even though it’s entirely not her doing.

After contemplating the situation she got herself into, that Kael would _just love_ to know about, she eventually manages to free her from under Jaina without disturbing her sleep. She somehow, for only second, gets caught up in the thought of how much she hates her noble elf friend’s stupid fucking face, and suddenly finds her hand all to well-fitting resting on top of the mages head.

Still overly aware of the situation she instantly retracts it, practically terrified by the notion of how much she wants to enjoy _this_.

 

It’s her very much straight friend, which needs her support in a time of need, for Light’s sake.

“Fuck.” she breaths before slowly, carefully, rolling Jaina’s body off of her, until the human is resting on her side, the blanked completely tugged around her. The shorter woman doesn’t give any indication she is aware of whats happening, or even awake, and only acknowledges Sylvanas freeing herself from under her with a number of little content noises and an, if anything, friendly hum, before unconsciously rolling away and on her other side, prompting the elf to breath a sigh of relieve.

After they break contact Sylvanas waits, lurks for the blonde to wake, and when she is sure she is fast asleep practically steals away, quickly throwing her legs out of the bed and gently closing the door behind herself.

 

 

 

 

 

“You are up early.” Kael’Thas informs her, as he casually wanders through the apartment door, after solving yet another magical cypher the store clerk describes as _impossible to beat_.

 

“You are here early.” Sylvanas counters, shooting the man an annoyed look.

 

“Didn’t sleep.” he shrugs, and sits down at the counter opposite to where the tall elf woman is broodingly going over a file. He indeed reeks of liquor and cigarettes, his clothes are deranged, and long strains of his blonde hair have become unfastened from the ponytail he’s wearing them in.

 

“You are aware you are supposed to accompany Jaina to work today?” Sylvanas comments, raising an eyebrow at him.

 

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist. I’m perfectly capable of that as is.” he replies amused, the blue of his eyes practically sparkling at her, as he steers his finger in the air fixing up his clothes and changing the color of his shirt to a more appropriate businesslike white. A snap of his fingers turning his long hair into the blonde mane they usually are. – Did she mention how much she hates him?

 

“I slept plenty during the day, yesterday.” he informs her nonchalantly, her unamused expression soliciting a grin. “Coffee?”

 

Before she can answer he has already made his way over to the machine, refilling the water.

 

“So, whats wrong?” he pointedly asks after a long moment of silence and narrows his eyes at her. “Your aura seems off today.”

 

“Nothing. What would make you think that?” Sylvanas replies pursing her lips and lightly glaring at him.

 

“First of all: No music.”

 

“Jaina is still asleep.”

 

“Secondly, you haven’t made your bed yet.”

 

“How...”

 

“Because if you did you would have showered already, because the military person you are you would have folded your sleeping wear onto it.” he points at the gray t-shirt on her body. “And by your progress through this file, you have been up for the better part of an hour.”

 

“Thirdly…” he suddenly pauses his smug recount of his observations. “How would you know Jaina is still asleep? Her door is closed.”

 

“She hasn’t been out yet, so I figured.” Sylvanas offers, willing a confident expression onto her face. Kael strangely only hums at her explanation, now eyeing her suspiciously over the counter.

 

“You smell of jasmine.” he establishes, suddenly narrows his eyes at her and gets closer, exaggeratedly sniffing. A painfully long moment goes by in silence, as Sylvanas helplessly tries to deter him with a stern look.

 

“Is there something you want to tell me?” he asks curiously, an obvious amused tone in his voice, and wiggles his eyebrows at her.

 

“Jaina had trouble sleeping so I stayed with her for a bit.” the elf woman replies, quietly cursing him for his attentiveness. “Maybe it stuck from then.”

 

Kael’Thas very slowly nods at her explanation. Nonetheless looks at her with _that_ expression.

 

“Oh, hey Kael.” the short blonde in question suddenly wanders into the scene, interrupting the tension between the two old friends, prompting Sylvanas to sigh in relieve. _Saved by the bell._

Both of the elfs look at her in surprise. Her tone is light, and there is a happy expression on her face. Unlike the past week she looks well rested and immediately proceeds to humming what Sylvanas recognizes as a harpsichord piece that’s one of the human’s favorites. As Jaina easily drops a teabag into her mug Kael only turns towards the elf woman, questioning raising an eyebrow at her.


	10. Does she know that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update guys. Still sorting some things out. The good news is, thanks to the amazing chibs the next chapter is almost done too!

“What do you think?” Jaina asks casually, while fishing inside the cardboard container with her chopsticks. They are sitting huddled together on the shorter woman’s bed, their attention turned towards the screen of the laptop sitting at their feet, displaying the current episode of _Helya’s Kitchen_.

 

“I think the dwarf dude is going to get the boot. He’s been sassing him all night long.”

 

“No. Emmora is. He’s obviously out for her head.”

 

“What makes you think that?”

 

“She fucked up pasta. How do you fuck up noodles?”

 

“Says the woman who has never even touched one of the kitchen utensils in this apartment.” Sylvanas snarks in between bites.

 

“ _Pffff_. I live with an amazing cook, why would I?” Jaina comments, the statement coming out very naturally. “And even if it wasn’t for that, just because I can’t cook doesn’t mean I can’t recognize incompetence when I see it!” Jaina gives back.

 

“You willing to bet on that?” Sylvanas challengingly raises an eyebrow at the other blonde.

 

“I bet you this last spring roll I’m right.” Jaina announced without hesitating, and dangles the wrap in front of the elf’s face with her chopsticks.

 

“And if you win?” the taller woman asks casually, ignoring the object in her field of view.

 

“If _I_ win… You have to eat something I cooked.” the mage replies confidently after a moment of deliberation.

 

The elf mock considers her proposal for a moment, looking up and scratching her chin, before agreeing to the wager. “I have a strong stomach.”

 

Jaina scrunches her nose defiantly at the comment, but doesn’t say anything else, pointedly ignoring her, turning her attention back to the program.

 

“How is this even possible?” the human grumbles about five minutes later. “You already saw that episode!”

 

“Right. Me. Watching TV, all by myself.” Sylvanas quips and takes the last spring roll from the plate sitting on Jaina’s legs.

 

“Double or nothing!” the shorter woman challenges, pinning down the spring roll on the paper plate with her chopsticks.

 

“Double of what? You don’t have another spring roll.” the elf replies dryly, and skillfully levers the mages chopsticks off the food with a disarming strike. Jaina narrows her eyes at her, as her face turns a little red, but then falls into a sad pout. A moment of silence goes by where the other woman rolls her eyes, the leaves the food be.

 

“Fine, take it. But I still won that bet.” Sylvanas concedes with one of the little smiles that are unconsciously only reserved for her roommate, and retracts her cutlery. The short blonde vaguely triumphantly pops the food into her mouth, before pilling all the containers and other plastic bags together and getting up to dispose of them. Its not that late, so by now quasi habitually the elf doesn’t outright leave, and when the human returns, she comfortably nestles closer with the natural intimacy they somehow have since the _Arthas situation_.

At first the taller woman was a little taken aback by the new found physical closeness that comes with their friendship since that time, but has grown accustomed to it by now. She remembers meeting Velonara for the first time; It wasn’t all that much different. It really doesn’t bothers her that much. After the past weeks she really values the mages friendship even more, and is determined to not betray it with some sort of silly crush.

 

 

 

 

 

Sylvanas squints at the daylight pouring into the room through the blinds neither of them had bothered to close in the evening, and it takes her a moment to orientate herself. As usually the shorter blonde has fallen asleep on top of her, and she didn’t have the heart to wake her, so she simply had slid down into a lying position while still holding her, and was now greeted by the well-known side of a blonde and white web of hair resting on her torso.

The door bell rings again. At least its not Kael’Thas, after the last time he almost caught them, although she isn’t sure what it even is she tries to hide form him, she wouldn’t be able to live it down right now.

 

“Are you going to answer it?” the quiet voice of the human suddenly inquires drowsily, and she releases the elf from her grasp by lazily rolling off of her a bit, but not quiet, and slowly lifting her arm. Sylvanas is sure she is going to fall asleep again immediately after. When she steps into the hallway, her first cause of action is to open the door to her own room ajar – it might by some random chance still be Kael’Thas – and eventually reaches the apartment door as the door bell rings third time.

As per usual the intercom is broken, so she simply buzzes open the door, and soon can hear a flurry of vaguely familiar steps coming up the stairs. The first one to reach their floor is Galadin, a little wildly tumbling up the stairs on all fours, to be fast she assumes, and before she can say anything has reached the door, crushing into her legs and grabbing her into a tight hug with all the intensity of a five year old. Being _the cool_ aunt sure has it’s perks. Although she wonders to what exactly she owes the visit. “Auntie Sylvanas!” he squeals into her legs. A moment later Vereesa’s silver hair appears from down the stairs, the much quieter twin up the stairs by his hand.

 

“Vereesa.” Sylvanas greets her sister, with a noticeably questioning expression.

 

“Don’t tell me you forgot we were coming!” the younger Windrunner replies dryly, lets go of her son, who promptly runs to join his brother at his aunts legs, as soon as she they reach to top of the stairs. While the taller elf is still scouring her memories for said arrangement she seems to not remember, her sister quickly catches on with the fact, she indeed forgot.

 

“Vana, I swear to the Sunwell... I asked you if you were okay with us staying with you for a few days, since you have spare room, months ago.” the other elf informs her reproachfully.

 

 _And you didn’t bother to call to confirm, typically_. Sylvanas bites back with a grimace, and instead steps forward to hug her little sister. – The spare room. Right. Fuck. Jaina!

 

“So...” She begins, uncharacteristically sheepish, and Vereesa immediately knows what up.

 

“You found a new roommate, haven’t you?” she accusingly waggles her index finger under her sister’s nose.

 

“Well yes, but you can still stay.” the taller elf tries to salvage. “I’m going to stay on the couch and you can take the big bed. I’m still very happy you are here.”

 

“Are you sure? You told me you probably still would have to work while we are here.”

 

“Right. Don’t worry about that. Mother has been in my ears about the vacation days piling up on my account all year.” Sylvanas argues, and steps aside to let the three of them in.

 

“Who was it?” Jaina curiously pops her head around her doorway, as Vereesa drops the comically large military style backpack containing all the things she brought with them onto the couch.

 

“Who are you?” the accusing voice of a child suddenly greets her, and she finds an elf with boy with red-ish brown hair standing next to her, a precocious expression on his face.

 

“Galadin!” Vereesa chastises, but the human only turns towards the boy with a polite smile.

 

“I’m Jaina. Who are you?”

 

“I’m Galadin. What are you doing here? Where is Melaeth?” he narrows his eyes at her.

 

“Galadin, we talked about that. Melaeth isn’t living with aunt Sylvanas anymore.” the silver haired woman crosses the distance between them.

 

“Hi, I’m Vereesa, Sylvanas’ sister. And you must be the new roommate!” she greets Jaina cheerfully, and hold out her hand towards the mage. “Please don’t mind Galadin, he clearly takes after his other aunt.”

 

“Nice to meet you too!” Jaina replies friendly. “Sylvanas didn’t mention we were expecting visitors. I would have arranged for a little more hospitable greeting.”

 

“Oh don’t worry. The old grump forgot we were coming in the first place.” Vereesa can practically see the other elf’s eye roll, even though she’ standing behind her so Giramar can hide behind her.

 

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” Jaina informs them. “Do you need anything else?”

 

“No. I’m going to make breakfast, the boys must be hungry.” the taller elf replies, prompting Jaina to nod acknowledgingly and vanish into her room.

 

 

 

 

 

“Are you sure it is okay if we stay. I mean, Jaina seems nice and all, but I wouldn’t want to intrude on you.” Sylvanas’ younger sister argues, as she takes large sip from her coffee.

 

“Nonsense, you are family. And you are not intruding at all.” the other elf replies and places a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her sister. “Cocoa and marmalade toast?”

 

“Yep.” Vereesa says and takes look over he shoulder to confirm the two children are still occupied with the cartoon on TV. “I just thought. After you and Melaeth….” she follows up on the previous topic.

 

“There never was a _Melaeth_ _and me_.” Sylvanas replies, slightly rolls her eyes again.

 

“ _O_ _h_ _– Kay_.” Vereesa deadpans, but doesn’t pursues the matter any further.

 

“Breakfast is ready.” her older sister announces a moment later, and places two plates with toast in front of the seats left and right of her, and the boys quickly come scrambling towards the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

“Where are you staying?” Jaina inquires conversationally, while entertaining the two children, who insisted she shows them something as soon as they found out she was a mage like their dad, with an every changing arcana kaleidoscope in her open hand.

 

“Here actually. Originally we were supposed to take your room, but since that’s not possible anymore and it’s only a few days, Sylvanas offered to stay on the couch.” Vereesa iterates, and visibly studies the human’s expression for a reaction.

 

“Oh. Why didn’t she say something?” the mage tilts her head in slight confusion. “Why do you want to stay on the couch?” She turns towards the taller elf loading the dishwasher, a little louder, and the magic vanishes. “I don’t mind sharing with you.” the blonde announces, and for a short moment the silver haired elf’s eyebrows join her hairline, as hidden from them the other elf closes her eyes in defeat.

 

 

 

 

 

“ _Nuh-Uh._ It’s not your turn yet.” Jaina gently swats away Galadin’s hand from the draw pile, prompting the boy to pout at her.

 

“You are very good at this.” Vereesa comments nonchalantly, and grabs pretzel from the bag sitting in the middle of the kitchen island.

 

“I have two older brothers. No reservations there.” the human smiles and pointedly takes subtle peek into Sylvanas, who had objected to playing in the first place’s cards, prompting the woman to turn her hand away and giving her an annoyed look.

 

 

“So, Jaina, have you found your prince charming yet?” the younger Windrunner inquires casually over her next draw, and to her bewilderment the atmosphere immediately turns icy, as the human falls silence and noticeable freezes up, while her sister purses her lips and subtly shakes her head at her. Vereesa frowns in confusion, doesn’t know what to say, until suddenly the human comes to live again. “No. I have not.” She replies curtly, and her sister can see relieve wash over Sylvanas’ face, so she drops the subject entirely. Because if her sister is telling her to avoid a subject that’s not her love life, there has to be a serious reason for that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sylvanas is woken rather abruptly by the combined weight of both the twins bearing down on her body at once, as they climb the bed and throw themselves at her with a bunch of happy squeals. Luckily the other woman has for once stuck to her side, the only physical connection between them being Jaina’s pinky hooked around Sylvanas’ index finger behind her back under the blanket.

The elf woman unconsciously breaks the contact and quickly sits up in bed, collecting the children from on top of her in one fluid motion and gathering sitting in front of her body.

 

“ _Pssssssh_. You wouldn’t want to wake Jaina?” she implores quietly, although its probably too late for that.

 

“We wanna play!” Giramar informs her with a serious expression, but makes a noticeable effort to keep his voice down. “You promised.”

 

Sylvanas takes a quick glance at her phone. Five thirty, great. Vereesa probably told them to ‘go annoy aunt Sylvanas’ when they woke _her_ up.

 

 

 

 

“What’s all the commotion about?” Jaina inquires playfully, as she enters the general vicinity of the kitchen, still clad in her large blue and white striped sleeping shirt about an hour later.

 

“Aunt Sylvanas shows us how to make pancakes.” one of the twins informs her. The boys are sitting on top of the counter, their feet dangling, watching over the woman’s shoulder as she prepares the food.

 

“That’s so nice of her!” the mage comments with an honest smile, and for the shortest moment casually wraps her arms around the taller woman from behind, before ruffling her own hair and taking her usual place at the counter “Good Morning Vanas!”

 

Somehow Sylvanas manages to suppress the slight shiver building up in her body, and instead turns of the oven. “Good Morning.”

 

When she turns around she finds her sister standing in the kitchen too, staring daggers at her from under the large towel wrapped around her head, a suspicious expression on her face.

 

 

The three days go by uneventful. Sylvanas indeed manages to shove in some vacation days. Having her other daughter and grandchildren around, generally makes for a compelling argument to their mother, and they spend the days exploring the city with the boys, on the last day even managing to make sightseeing flight around the city with them, courtesy of the general being a big softy when it comes to the boys. Unfortunately, although Sylvanas isn’t exactly convinced its a bad thing, Jaina still has to go to work, so she only manages to join them for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

“I thought we weren’t intruding?” Vereesa comments dryly when they are about to part at the portal station. The other elf only raises a questioning eyebrow at her, willing her face into the most dignified expression she can muster over the obvious insinuation.

 

“You weren’t.” she replies nonchalantly.

 

“Right.” the shorter elf gives back. “Whatever you say.”

 

“Vereesa, I’m serious. She isn’t even gay.” Sylvanas defends.

 

“Does _she_ know that?”

 

“I’m… you know what, I’m having this discussion with Kael’Thas on a weekly basis. Please spare me your opinion on the subject matter.”

 

“Okay.” her sister replies in defeat. “Come on guys, say goodbye to your useless aunt Sylvanas.” she ignores the glare the older Windrunner is shooting her.

 

 

 

“So, Melaeth.” Jaina comments casually, when they settled in front of the TV this evening. The human is currently mulling over some papers, while Sylvanas browses for recipes to distract herself.

 

“She is my former roommate.” the taller woman informs her dryly.

 

“Were you two close?” the mage follows up, an unreadable expression on her face.

 

“Not really. I mean, we used to get along well, but somehow grew apart.” Sylvanas replies curtly.

 

“Oh. Alright.” Jaina quickly drops the subject.


	11. I'm Not An Idiot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy easter everyone, and to whom it doesn't concern a lovely sunday and a great start into the week.
> 
> This chapter has been brought to you by Camille Saînt-Saëns Dance Macabre

“... _And_ you _didn’t_ tell me my favorite silver haired munchkin and her offspring were here?” Kael’Thas says scandalized, and brings a hand to his chest in feign affront.

 

“As it would so happen; No I did not.” Sylvanas deadpans and takes a sip from her coffee.

 

“Oh, you know each other?” Jaina inquires interested, although in hindsight it should be obvious, since they know each other since they were children.

 

“Oh, yes.” Kael makes an extravagant gesture with his hand. “And unlike her sisters at least Vereesa knows how to smile once in a while. _And_ how to have fun.”

 

“So, Alleria was it, and Sylvanas are alike?” the mage asks, suddenly intrigued by the inside Kael might be able to offer.

 

“More than you think.” he quips, the usual grin on his face, waggling his eyebrows at Jaina.

 

“Oh, shut up.” the other elf cuts him off and slightly clenches her fist at him, while unintendedly slamming down her mug onto the surface of the counter. Because honestly, she is sick of him bringing up her sexuality every other sentence, just to annoy her and make Jaina uncomfortable with his constant allusions to the nature of their relationship.

 

“Someone is more irritable than usual.” her old friend remarks dryly.

 

“Can you for once in your life just shut the fuck up?” she snarls in reply, and suddenly is unsure why exactly she is so irritated by his remarks, herself. Jaina looks at her in mild shock at her reaction, and for a moment it is unclear how Kael’Thas will answer, as he narrows his eyes at her, a strange, uncomfortable seriousness in his expression.

 

“It seems that I have overstayed my welcome.” he addresses the human mage politely, pointedly looking past Sylvanas, although it feels like needles shooting from the corner of his eyes are piercing right through her. Jaina only looks at him with disbelief, visibly lost for words.

 

“Kael...” Sylvanas begins, although still noticeably indignant, quite rueful.

 

“No. It’s alright. I get it.” he replies dramatically and gets up from his seat. “Do you mind if I leave my cup?”

 

“ _Kael_.” Sylvanas repeats a little louder, her tone sliding back into anger. “Sit back down.” she orders.

 

“No, Sylvanas. You wanted me to shut up. This is me shutting up.” he replies sharply.

 

“Kael.” Jaina interjects sadly, and suddenly all three of them are standing around the kitchen island.

 

“Kael’Thas.” the elf woman begins again, this time her tone more measured, calm. “I’m sorry for screaming at you. You are my oldest friend. And of course I don’t want you to leave or _shut up_.” she establishes seriously. “But I stand by the substance of my statement, which by the way, you damn well understood.”

 

“See. Not that hard.” a wide smile immediately appears on his face, as he casually slouches down on his seat again. The human mage frowns at the exchange in confusion.

 

“I hate you. _So much_.” Sylvanas says and for a few seconds closes her eyes and tilts her head back, before sitting down again too.

 

“No you don’t.” he shrugs.

 

“So Jaina…” Kael begins again after a few minutes of the other elf scowling at him, prompting Sylvanas to eye him suspiciously. “Have you thought about dating again? I know it’s a little early. I most certainly hope you would feel comfortable about intimacy again some time.” he says a little too compassionately, and gingerly places his hand on top of Jaina’s.

 

“ _Oh_ , _Uh_ , I suppose so.” Jaina replies a little irritated by his question, but offers a warm smile for emphasis.

 

“I’m happy to hear that.” he returns her smile, as Sylvanas narrows her eyes at him, expecting him to suggest they start dating any second now.

 

“Because, I know this guy; Tall and handsome. Intelligent. Great sense of humor. I tried my best, but it would appear he is entirely unsusceptible to my charms.” he iterates seriously and adeptly throws in a pointed smile for narrative effect. “We actually became great friends nonetheless. And been talking recently, how I know you. And you are single and all. And just by my modest account of your beauty and intelligence, he would be humbled if you agreed to have dinner with him. Completely noncommittal of course. He’s kind of new in town also, and happy with whatever new acquaintance he can make in these parts.” he finishes smoothly, and suddenly Sylvanas is the one entirely lost for words.

 

“Oh. I mean, it would kind of be nice to meet some new people, I suppose.” Jaina replies.

 

“Fantastic.” Kael’Thas announces enthusiastically. “How does Friday evening sound?”

 

Jaina opens her mouth but doesn’t get to actually answer.

 

“We already have plans on Friday.” Sylvanas informs him, although Jaina looks a little perplexed by the statement. The sudden announcement causes the other elf to look at her with a strange, slightly inquisitive expression, as Sylvanas seemingly is surprised by the information herself.

 

“We are going to watch that new movie Jaina has been going on about.” she specifies. Although Jaina still doesn’t look like she knew about said plans until this very moment.

 

“What movie?” Kael challenges, because, of course he does, looks at Sylvanas with _that_ look.

 

_You are a Windrunner, and you have near perfect memory. Come on._

 

“Night Warrior.” for once her mind bows to her will.

 

“That doesn’t sound like something Jaina would watch.” Kael protests snarky.

 

“It’s a documentary about the early cult of Elune and the rites of the old Kaldorei.” Jaina establishes to the mans great surprise. “I can’t believe you remembered that.” the human’s voice is filled with a sort of honest joy.

 

“No… I… it opens on Thursday, but I have to work a night shift on that day. Hence Friday. I wanted to surprise you. You had a rough few months.” Sylvanas goes on, confidence returning to her voice with every word.

 

“Then I’m looking forward to it!” the human smiles at her happily, prompting Kael to narrow his eyes at _her_ suspiciously.

 

“After that then. The movie won’t last the whole night. And we are all adults her.” he argues again, and Sylvanas has to curb the sudden impulse to punch his stupid face.

 

“That won’t do either. We will be going to Chen’s afterwards.” she informs him through slightly clenched teeth, and over the course of the next few seconds unconsciously slowly edges forward, in between him and Jaina.

 

“Very well.” he says neutrally. A dangerous, irritating calm, and indifference in his voice. “There surely will be other, more convenient occasions. I guess, I will be in touch.”

 

“I’m sure you will be.” Sylvanas bites and crosses her arms in front of her body, now almost fully standing in between him and her roommate, and even Jaina can’t help but notice her ears noticeably setting back.

 

“Oh, yes. That’s a good idea.” the mage pipes up friendly from behind her.

 

 

“I don’t know how you did that. But that was only the second time our entire adult life that I heard you tell a _real_ lie. And to my face no less.” Kael whispers to Sylvanas as they share a brief hug when he is about to leave, and Sylvanas can’t shake the sudden feeling he achieved exactly what _he_ wanted to. “I am _so_ proud of you.” he adds and winks at her as he turns around to leave.

 

 

 

 

“Hey, Alex.” Sylvanas’ voice sounds almost sheepish through the line.

 

“Oh, hey Sylvanas!” A warm and vibrant voice greets her back. “Alleria isn’t here, but I can go get her if you want.”

 

“No. I actually wanted to talk to _you_.” the elf replies a little worriedly.

 

“How can I help you?” as usual the other woman’s voice already has a soothing effect.

 

“I might have made a huge mistake.” Sylvanas admits hesitantly.

 

“What could that possibly have been? Did something happen?” there suddenly is a little worry in Aelxstrasza’s voice too.

“No. Well, kind of. So, I found a new roommate.” Sylvanas explains.

 

“And you regret giving them the room?”

 

“No. Nothing of the likes. She is actually a lovely person. Kindhearted, and also very beautiful.” the last part the elf practically rushes through.

 

“ _Ah_.” the redhead on the other end comments, understanding settling in.

 

“So, anyways, since she moved in, Kael’Thas has been needling me about dating her. You know him. He can be very persistent in these matters.”

 

“ _Hmmmm_.” the other woman hums agreeingly. “And you don’t want to?”

 

“No I… well…” Sylvanas falls silent. “She isn’t gay.”

 

“Oh. Well, that kind of settles that. Doesn’t it? So where’s the problem?”

 

“Yeah. So. She knows I’m gay. And not completely without Kael’Thas’ influence, I might have asked her on a date anyway. And that’s fine. I’m fine with going out with her. As in like, _not a date._ We do that all the time. But you know, since she knows I’m gay, and the context was pretty obvious… I kind of fear I might have overstepped. I don’t want her to think it _is_ a date.” the usually very fierce and determined elf woman rambles noticeably neurotically. A short moment goes by in silence, the other woman obviously taking time to consider the information.

 

“Then why would you ask her in the first place?” she calmly asks eventually.

 

“Well, so, Kael’Thas was doing this thing, where he gets involved in other people’s life without so much as thinking about the consequences….”

 

“I’m actually pretty sure he only does that with you.”

 

“ _Yes_ , and well, he wanted to set her, _Jaina_ , up on a date, with a guy, and I kind of snapped.”

 

“But you don’t have feelings for her?” the dragon elf woman asks neutrally, her tone bordering dry sarcasm.

 

“I know you mean that in an analytical way, but can you avoid _accidentally_ mocking me? If I wanted that I’d be talking to one of my sisters.”

 

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention. Go on please.” the other woman replies more warmly.

 

“So, do I like, tell her its not a _date_ date. Or….” she asks, and can hear a little chuckle from the other end. She supposes that’s fair.

 

“Do you feel she is the kind of person that would have a problem with that?”

 

“No. I mean. It might be a little awkward. But she is a lovely person. She’d probably gloss over it, even if it was a problem.”

 

“See, there you have your answer. Look, I can tell you really like her. As a friend...” Somehow the comment doesn’t entirely not sound like she is being mocked. “And if you are correct she doesn’t care. So maybe just have a good time with your friend?” Alex implores warmly.

 

“Maybe you are right.” Sylvanas concedes meekly after considering the advice for a minute. “Thank you for listening.”

 

“Always.” the other woman gives back easily.

 

“Do you have a date yet?” Sylvanas asks, changing the subject.

 

“Not yet, there are still a few… quirks to work out.” the redhead on the other end informs her.

 

“Alleria is going bonkers about everything being perfect and planed out. Including, but not limited to, probable weather on-site.” Sylvanas states, although it might be interpreted as a question as well.

 

“Yes.” Alexstrasza sighs lightly.

 

“Once a ranger. –” the elf replies cheerily, although she is very sympathetic to her future sister-in-law. Her big sister can be… a hand full. Especially when she’s stressed out about something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“That was even more interesting than I thought it would be.” Jaina establishes enthusiastically, almost dancing forward at the taller woman’s side, as they leave the theater.

 

“It certainly had a lot of interesting facts to present. And the imagery of the prehistoric temples in the treetops of the ancient trees was very impressive. I especially liked their choice of music.” Sylvanas iterates honestly.

 

“Oh yes, that was marvelous. The camera flight during the introduction had me holding my breath!” the mage goes on.

 

Sylvanas fidgets with her phone in her pocket to check the time, when Jaina closes the little distance between them, and nonchalantly links arms with her, after looping her elbow through the taller woman’s, folding her hands in front of her dark blue sleeveless vintage dress. The gesture prompts the elf to slightly raise an eyebrow at her, understandably unsure what to make of it, and maybe a little thrown off. She goes along with it though, routinely willing her usual, neutral expression on her face, as she is even dragged along a little by Jaina, who spends the walk to the restaurant ever enthusiastically gushes about the documentary. Even though she is an accomplished mage and university teacher, there is a sort of innocent joy about it, that gives her that little glow, heartwarming and bewitching.

 

_You can do it. Alex is right. You are friends. Nothing wrong with that._

 

 

 

“Here you go. Two Swirling Mist Soups, Sea Mist Rice Noodles, Tiger Steak, and a single plate of Shrimp Dumplings.” Chen’s deep and friendly voice announces, as he deftly spreads out the still steaming hot dishes between the women on the table.

 

“Thank you Master Chen.” Jaina replies with a friendly smile, as the two of them lean away from each other, creating space for the food.

 

“Ah, nothing is too good for my two favorite customers!” the Pandaren bellows. “You two need a refill?”

 

“Oh, yes please!” the mage collects her and Sylvanas’ glass from the table and hands them to him. Only a few minutes later Li Li appears at their table, two full glasses on her tray.

 

“Enjoy your meal!” Sylvanas gingerly smiles at the shorter woman, before arranging a soup bowl in front of herself.

 

“You too!” Jaina returns the gesture, her hand briefly brushing against the elf’s, as she reaches for the chopsticks, and for second Sylvanas can’t help but look up from her meal, and intensely eyeing the mage with a vaguely sad expression, that Jaina luckily misses.

 

 

 

 

“Bye!” Jaina a drunkenly calls out to Chen again, who is closing up the restaurant in the distance. Sylvanas has her hands buried deep in the pockets of her jeans, her eyes trained forward.

 

“I hate these.” the mage announces after a few steps, and without another warning pulls the heeled sandals from her feet, almost flat out falling forward in the process, as she slightly stumbles forward. “These are _so_ impractically! Remind me to wear my fabric sneakers the next time we go out.” she scoffs, and deprecatingly narrows her eyes at the offending footwear dangling from her finger.

 

“Did I ever thank you for saving me?” Jaina asks after a few minutes of quietly walking down the street, beaming at the taller blond with an almost infatuated smile.

 

“But I didn’t do anything.” Sylvanas replies neutrally, pulls her hands out of her pockets for a second, then buries them again.

 

“Yes you did. You were all like, _swoosh_ , and _bang_ , and then Arthas was on the ground and almost cried.” Jaina informs her, flailing her arms in what’s probably supposed to mimic martial arts technique.

 

“But you were the one who told him _no_. That was probably a lot harder.” the elf argues, prompting the mage to give her an almost affronted look for not agreeing with her.

 

“Can you show me?” Jaina asks cryptically.

 

“Show you what?”

 

“What you did. With his hand and all.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea right now.” the taller woman argues honestly, lifts her arms in a calming gesture, but the shorter blonde only pouts at rejection.

 

“Do you think I’m too dumb?” Jaina challenges.

 

“Not at all. You are just….”

 

“Then show me!”

 

Sylvanas rolls her eyes, just a little, then caves.

 

“I’m going to grab onto your dress.” She warns Jaina and cautiously reaches forward, grabbing a hold of a small piece of fabric.

 

“Oh no. Please don’t tear my clothes off!” Jaina flutters her eyes at her, and dramatically brings the back of her hand to her forehead, slightly tilting her head backwards, while closing her eyes.

 

“Concentrate.” Sylvanas scolds, ignoring the comment entirely.

 

“What now?”

 

“Grab onto my hand with your left, and twist it outward.” Jaina does as she is told.

 

“Now take your other hand pull me towards you by twisting your body.” Sylvanas lets her.

 

“When you have me like that, turn your body and lean into me with your back while tugging my arm with you.”

 

“I have you were I wanted you now, scoundrel!” A short moment later the elf slightly stumbles to the ground next to Jaina.

 

“That was _so_ cool!” she says, her eyes bright and happy, as she offers her hand to help Sylvanas to her feet again. “Now I’m unstoppable!” she announces cheerily and picks up her shoes from the ground next to them.

 

 

“Oh look!” she suddenly trails of, just as Sylvanas is sure she will be able to get her home without further interruption, prompting the taller woman, who’s mind is otherwise occupied with ignoring her stupid crush, to look at her questioningly, as both of them stop. The short blonde is pointing her finger right at the night sky, even though in the dim light of the street lanterns there isn’t much to see up there, except for the two moons, looming over them.

 

“What is it?” Sylvanas asks, tilts her head, as she directs her gaze in the direction the other woman is pointing.

 

“Look!” Jaina repeats, as little slurred, as if the instruction itself answers the question. “Do you think Elune is watching us?” she asks before the taller woman can ask for clarification.

 

“I don’t think she has time for that.” the elf offers neutrally.

 

“I suppose you are right. But wouldn’t it be nice if she did?”

 

“ _Hmmmm_.” Sylvanas only hums, unsure what to say.

 

“It was a very nice date, even if she doesn’t.” Jaina suddenly giggles, quickly direction her gaze towards the elf woman, and lingering there, even es she takes her eyes off the moon and returns it.

 

“I… It wasn’t….” she stammers, a little blush settling inadvertently settling on her face, but before she can form a coherent reply the mage turns away, and saunters forward and down the street, leaving her dumbfounded for a moment, before the quickly growing distance between them forces Sylvanas to fall into a quick jog, so she won’t lose her barefoot and noticeably tipsy friend in the darkness.

 

 

 

 

About an hour later the elf pushes over the apartment door, and as quietly as possible maneuvers her and the sleeping blonde she is carrying piggyback inside. She pushes the door close again with her foot, and directly makes her way over to her roommates room, where she gingerly sets the shorter woman down on the surface of her bed. As soon as she lets go of her, her body falls backwards onto the surface, an audible snore confirming she is still fast asleep. Sylvanas takes a short moment to more comfortably arrange her before simply throwing the covers over her body, and when she is sure everything is alright, makes her way over to her room, quietly closing the door behind her.


	12. Quite the bonding experience

When Jaina wakes in the early hours of the morning, her eyes are glued shut, and she is greeted by a rather unpleasant taste in her tongue. She is covered with her blanked, but when she slowly assess her outfit, she finds, besides being barefoot, she is somehow still wearing a dress. In her dizzy state, she wiggles herself out of the fabric on the spot, and somehow manages to drowsily roll out of bed. When she is on her feet again, she quickly ditches her bra and squinting from just one eye also manages to find her sleeping shirt. Stepping out of her room in a mixture of trudging and stumbling, the mage turns to the left, pulling apart her braid, before she decides to forgo switching on the light, and instead just slumps onto the seat in total darkness.

 

Against her better judgment, Sylvanas spend the better part of two hours just lying on her back, in the darkness of her room eyeing the ceiling and cursing herself for her completely unwarranted crush on the shorter blonde. She isn’t even quite sure whether she actually feels that way, or if it’s just Kael’s constant instigation and agitation.

She sighs loudly to herself, not the first time since she delivered her roommate to her bed, throwing her arms out, frustrated about the whole situation. Especially since Jaina actually seemed to genuinely enjoy their _date_. But not as a ‘date’ date she reminds herself again, trying to change position in bed, to maybe get some sleep, but after few seconds decides it isn’t any more comfortable than the other, and quickly turning back on her back.

 

The tall elf is just about to get up and watch TV – Yes, you heard that right – when the door of her room creaks open, and the human in question comes staggering inside, her eyes closed, arms dangling limply from her side, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, approaches the bed. The shorter woman feels the edge of the surface and quickly finds the other woman lying there.

 

“Scoot.” she demands sleepily, and audibly adjusts her tongue and jaw, her eyes still closed.

 

Sylvanas is taken completely by surprise, as her train of though, mainly revolving around how miserable she is with the whole situation, grinds to a halt, and can’t help but comply, sliding over to the far side of the bed.

 

“Than-s.” Jaina breaths out, and crawls into the bed next to the elf, without hesitation nestling against her side, before, still mostly asleep, finding the edge of the covers and pulling the fabric around their bodies. Then simply wraps her arm around the taller woman’s waist, like she would usually do when at some point they’d end up _sleeping_ together, her small hand now resting just under the edge of the elf’s cotton sports bra. – Which by the way she wouldn’t have chose in the first place, if she knew this was happening.

 

It takes Sylvanas a minute to curb the little panic attack she is having, as her heartbeat picks up for a moment. She supposes there is nothing strange or unfamiliar about it. It’s just the context, or lack thereof, looking back at their date. After a few minutes the elf woman has overcome and pushed back her reservations, and adjusts her arms and torso to more comfortable accommodate for both of them, as the human pins her down.

 

 

 

 

Sylvanas, as usual, catches her alarm just seconds before it was about to go off. Somehow she has to agree with Vel questioning why she even bothers to have on set in the first place. A quick glance at the screen of her phone confirms the time, exactly eight. She would prefer to have more than a single day off, but many of her comrades already began their leave for the summer, and since she so happens to be the daughter of the general, tough luck. She makes an effort to slowly, but steadily wiggle herself out from under Jaina’s body, but after trying for about five minutes, doesn’t even come close to freeing herself, prompting her to sigh quietly to herself again.

 

“Jaina.” she whispers gingerly, quasi directly into the blonde’s ear. The human steers a little, but doesn’t wake, and instead somehow increases her hold on the other woman’s body even more, and readjusts her head to now comfortably rest on center of the taller woman’s sternum. Sylvanas holds her breath for a moment, as the panic returns for a brief moment, before relaxing again.

 

“Jaina, I have to go.” she a little less quietly pleads and hesitantly combs her fingers through the blonde hair, to maybe wake her up just enough the release her. To her moderate surprise the short blonde actually hums acknowledging at that, and slowly retracts her arm, but not her body. Nonetheless the elf is able to free herself, and carefully slides out from under her.

 

“Stay safe.” Jaina’s sleepy voice says as her head sinks into the pillow Sylvanas drapes in the spot she has occupied, and for a second pads it into a shape more accommodating for her head.

 

“Go back to sleep.” the elf replies, purses her lips at the strange feeling of familiarity overcoming her, as she pauses standing on the far side of the bed.

 

“’Love you….” the mage breathes as she falls asleep again.

 

 

 

 

Jaina is suddenly pulled to consciousness a few hours later, the words loudly echoing in her head, as vividly as if she hadn’t spoken them herself, but been an observer to the scene. At first she is confused, as her body springs into an upright position. The room is bathed in the warm Thalassian noon sun, and despite having a vague recollection of drinking a little too much, she feels well rested. Although she can’t get her mind off that memory. _And_ the question how she even ended up in her roommates bed. She isn’t really sure if its even real, of if she dreamed that. And if not, why she said it. She _can_ remember a feeling, warm and pleasant. But not like… like…

Stuck at the thought, she quickly decides that it was a dream all along, and gets up, now squinting at the sun on her face, then leaves towards the bathroom, trying to ignore the thoughts lingering in the back of her head.

 

 

 

 

 

“You are a little distracted today.” Vel comments cheerily, when the third arrow in a row misses the center of her tall friend’s target, and easily sinks another one into hers. “You wanna switch to guns?” She pauses for a second. “Or tell me what’s bothering you?”

 

The taller elf woman only grunts non-commitally, and draws her bow again. A second later the arrow completely misses its target and is stuck in the back wall of the range, prompting her to sigh loudly, as her grip tightens around her weapon for a moment, but then she puts it down on the table in front of her.

 

 

 

 

“I’m listening.” Velonara grins, and hoists herself up onto the surface of her desk opposite her superior's, her lunchbox, filled to the brim with unhealthy foods, in hand. Sylvanas rolls her eyes and starts unpacking her own lunch, mostly comprised of healthy greens and reds. Vel wrinkles her nose a little at the gesture, but then her face quickly lights up with delight at the sight of a fried drumstick, and giggles at the glowing blue squirrel escaping the container in the process.

 

“How was the movie?” she says friendly and hums almost ecstatically at the taste of the food in her mouth a moment later.

 

“It was fine.” the other woman replies curtly, prompting Vel to eye her questioningly.

 

“That doesn’t sound very enthusiastic.” she tilts her head and shakes a few strains of her banks out of her field of view. “Did Jaina like it?”

 

“We both liked it.” Sylvanas clarifies, a little defensively. The shorter woman only hums at that, and turns to her food again, clearly displeased with her friend’s taciturnity.

 

“Do you think Jaina might be into woman?” the taller woman asks out of the blue a few minutes later, causing Vel to almost choke on a piece of chicken.

 

“ _Hmm_ I don’t know actually. She _seems_ awfully comfortable around you.” she replies, after a finishing her coughing fit.

 

“She’s been through a lot.” the other elf argues.

 

“Why? Did Kael finally get to you? I wouldn’t think too much of it. He’s been kind of an asshole about it lately.” Vel implores honestly.

 

“Nothing particularly. I guess he finally got to me with all his bullshit.” Sylvanas replies neutrally, hides behind her salad.

 

“Why don’t you ask her?” Vel inquires nonchalantly, like she’s not even seeing the problem with that. “You _are_ friends, no?” she adds, and points a drumstick at the other woman accusingly.

 

“I don’t want to give her the impression I’m asking because of _me_.” Sylvanas replies seriously.

 

“Why not? She won’t even care. It’s Jaina, you know, the woman you have been living with for the last few months – Short. Blonde. Adorably clumsy smartass with a heart of gold. For some reason loves Shal’Dorei symphonies? Whats the worst thing that could happen?” Velonara shrugs and sets down her food for once. “Or are you afraid she might say yes?”

 

“I know the whole Melaeth situation wasn’t easy for you. And I’m not going to say I told you so; Kael’Thas is doing that on a daily basis. But summer will begin soon. I am already feeling it. You must be too. Wouldn’t be nice to… get to know each other better? See what happens?”

 

“It’s not because of her. She is dead to me.” Sylvanas announces strongly, ignores the other comment, and folds and refolds her arms in front of her body.

 

“That’s good to hear. Because, I ran into her the other day and...”

 

“Where?”

 

“I thought she is dead to you?”

 

“Fuck you.”

 

“I’m not Kael. I’m not going to hold that over you the rest of your life. The Light knows I’m not exactly good with these things either.”

 

 

“At least _you_ get your money’s worth.” Sylvanas replies with a wry smile.

 

“But that’s not the same.” the shorter elf argues immediately, narrows her eyes at her. “And did you just call me a slut?”

 

“No!” Sylvanas blurts in an instant, hectically gesturing with her hands, her face turning into an apologetic grimace, prompting the shorter elf to giggle at her reaction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“How’s your husband, Arthas was it?” Elandra inquires politely after the waitress is done taking their order. The blonde opposite of her immediately slumps into her seat at the question, avoids her gaze for a moment, before composing herself again, still a pained expression on her face.

 

“We are divorced.” she curtly informs her friend, purses her lips, trying to come off as nonchalant as possible.

 

“I’m sorry to hear that.” the brunette replies, not missing her collage roommate’s vaguely sad expression. “So you moved to Silvermoon on your own.” she adds a long moment later, filling the quiet her friends sudden silence has created.

 

“Yeah. It seamed the right thing to do; Getting away from all of it.” Jaina offers.

 

“Are you living alone?” Elandra follows up friendly. A second later the waitress appears with a tablet carrying their coffee and two pieces of chocolate cake.

 

“No. I couldn’t effort that. My mother was _very_ upset about the whole divorce thing, so she cut me off.”

 

“I’m sorry to hear that.” the brunette says again, with an empathetic expression. “How’s your roommate then?”

 

“Oh, very nice. She’s an elf – ranger. We get along very well.” the shorter woman replies hastily, almost rambling a little.

 

“Not as nice as your last roommate, I hope.” the brunette teases with a smile, and takes a sip from her coffee.

 

“You mean the one that brought home three different _boyfriends_ a week, never did the dishes –”

 

“ _Hey!_ ” the other woman interjects in feign affront.

 

“– and still is one of the best friends I ever had.” Jaina finishes with a little smile on her face.

 

“Nice save.” Elandra laughs warmly and squeezes her friend’s hand for emphasis. “Mine was a damn nerd who spend most of her time reading books older than time itself.” she gives back, mirroring the shorter woman’s expression.

 

“That’s impossible, the first know use of paper doesn’t predate the…. _Oh_. I suppose she _was_.” Jaina concedes, and the both of them share a laugh. She didn’t know how much she actually missed her best friend.

 

 

 

 

“So, you must really _like_ Sylvanas.” Elandra smiles roguishly, as they walk down the street an hour later.

 

“ _No_ … _Why_ … What would make you say that?” Jaina replies, almost jumps away from the taller brunette’s side at the comment, prompting her friend to let out a little laugh.

 

“Well, its _Sylvanas_ this, _Sylvanas_ that...” the other woman parrots. “She has been all you have been talking about the past hour.”

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...” the blonde begins.

 

“It’s alright. I enjoy your company nonetheless.” the other woman grins. “Although I wonder about _that_. Is there something you want to tell me?”

 

“She saved me from Arthas.” Jaina offers weakly, still tries to compose herself, but starts to flail her hands defensively again. “Nothing more.”

 

“I suppose that’s quite the bonding experience.” Elandra replies warmly, apparently deciding to not tease her friend any more. After all she _is_ right about that. Although, thinking back, she would have hoped her general disdain for the short blonde’s boyfriend back in the day would not have been this justified. The thought prompts her to close the distance between them, and she reaches out and pulls Jaina into a half hug at her side. “But you would tell your old friend El, if something was going on in that department?” she adds with a friendly smirk.

 

I few minutes go by in silence, as Jaina lets the brunette drag her along, trying to build the courage to actually tell her why she called her out of the blue this morning. After all she came all the way from Dalaran – well, by portal, but still.

 

“So...” Jaina begins meekly, carefully considering her choice of words for a moment still.

 

“Yes?” Elandra eyes her expectantly. “Is something wrong?”

 

“No, I just meant to tell you something… _Uh_...”

 

“I’m listening.” the brunette lets go of Jaina, but grabs her hand, only actually increasing the distance between them so much.

 

“I-might-be-into-woman.” the short blonde hastily lets out the string of words. Suddenly the taller woman stops in her tracks, pulling Jaina to a halt with her. The other woman eyes her sheepishly, suddenly unsure whether she should have brought it up in the first place.

 

“You… _might be_ … into woman?” Elandra blinks owlishly at her.

 

“Yes?” Jaina asks confused by her friend’s reaction, now mirroring her expression.

 

“Is… Do you have a problem with that?” she whispers. The other woman only tilts her head, still looking at like she was an abstract mass of eyes and tentacles, asking her to pick up a book from the library.

 

“Why, in the name of the light, would I have a problem with that?” the brunette says irritated, lets go of Jaina’s hand in favor of facing her directly.

 

“I don’t know… you seem… a little taken aback?” Jaina argues. Elandra blinks again.

 

“I always knew you were into women; What are you talking about?” she eventually establishes definitively.

 

“ _I_ … you what?”the shorter woman looks at her puzzled.

 

“You had a girlfriend in college? The one also from Kul’Tiras? You guys tried to hide it pretty well, but I caught you making out that one time, don’t you remember?”

 

“Wait, what? We didn’t… I told you, Lucille and I were just looking at the pictures on the wall and you startled us.”

 

Elandra blinks again.

 

“She was staying over every weekend.” she iterates, noticeably exasperated.

 

“Her roommate had her boyfriend over over the weekends. We were just _sleeping_ together.” Jaina informs her. The brunette begins to pinch the bridge of her nose, then breaths out slowly.

 

“Jaina. That girl had it for you _so_ bad….. Do you have any idea how surprised I was when you suddenly split during senior year?”

 

“We weren’t together in the first place!” Jaina defends, affronted by the insinuation. “I told her about Arthas, and she suddenly wouldn’t speak to me anymore.”

 

_And why could that possibly have been..._

 

“You can’t be serious.” Elandra closes her eyes, her mouth turning into a pursed smile.

 

_Poor Lucille_

 

“You two spend every minute cuddling or huddled together in front of the TV. And don’t tell me that was all purely platonic. You were giving her heart eyes all the time.”

 

“No I didn’t. I...” Jaina falls silence in midsentence, and about a minute goes by with her considering her friend’s words.

 

“Please don’t tell me I broke my other best friend’s heart.” she pauses again. “I was so upset with her for ghosting me. And apparently I was the jerk the whole time.”

 

“You know, I really liked her. Like…. Oh Light, I _liked_ her.” she eventually concedes. “And I missed her so much. I think I even hated her for just leaving from one day to another.”

 

“And it didn’t occur to you back then?” Elandra inquires empathetically, raises an eyebrow at her apparently extraordinarily obtuse friend.

 

“No. You see, my whole life my mother has been going on about how great it would be when I eventually got married. And when they set me up with Arthas, It felt like… like that would be it. You know… Like people were expecting me to do. And he was reasonably nice and charming… and…. I thought if I ever got married it would be him. I was happy because for once everyone else seemed happy for me too.” the blondes expression and voice turn sadder with every word, so the brunette reaches out, encloses her short friend in a close hug, the embrace barely stemming the wave of extreme emotions the realization brings with it.

 

“Do you think Lucille hates me?” the blonde snivels quietly.

 

“After all these years? I doubt it.”

 

“What am I going to do now?”

 

“About what?”

 

“You know...”

 

“Light, Jaina, you are still the same person. What did you think would happen?” she asks, but doesn’t receive an answer.

 

“If you ever want to talk about it. About anything; You know you can call me any time, right?”

 

“Yeah.” Jaina replies meekly.

 

The spend a few minutes in their embrace, until the brunette lets go of Jaina again.

 

“You want to talk about Sylvanas now?” Elandra inquires cheerily.


	13. Long live the Queen

The next week goes by relatives uneventful. Neither of them brings up their ‘date’, and with Sylvanas’ schedule being all over the place there isn’t a quiet moment to do so, even if either of them wanted to.

After her talk with Elandra and few more phone calls, to curb numerous little anxiety attacks, as she is weighting every word she and her roommate have spoken in the pasts months – Elandra spends most of the time rolling her eyes and assuring her everything is going to be fine – and repeatedly going over every text message she and Lucille ever wrote to each other, she isn’t quite sure what has changed, if anything, and eventually has to concede the fact that they are both the same people they have been a week ago.

_And_ that she maybe, sort of, a little bit, _likes_ the tall elf woman. Likes the softness she so masterfully hides behind the sharp edges of her features, and her great sense of humor, she almost never uses, and the strange, analytical way she has to talk about and describes art, like there is even reasoning to her emotions.

Also, she is pretty – pretty _hot_. Okay, maybe she is crushing on her a little bit. Tides, did she send the wrong signals? Should she say something? Maybe she should ask Kael for advice?

 

 

 

“How do you look so unfazed?” Sylvanas is greeted by her roommate, as she walks into the kitchen, just having woken up after night shift. The mage is perched in front of the large fan sitting on top of the kitchen island, blowing directly into her face at what looks like maximum intensity as the clock approaches noon. It’s the first real day of summer, and Thalassian summer can be very hard for some of the non-elves, especially for the human residents, who usually come from places a lot milder, to say the least. Kul’Tirans apparently are no difference.

The human’s braid is already tattered, small locks of blonde and white sticking out, damp from the pearls of sweat running down her whole body, even with the help of the device.

 

“It’s actually the most comfortable time of the year for us.” the elf informs her sympathetically, as she sits down across from her. “Look at my eyes.” she instructs calmly, prompting the shorter woman to lift her head from her arms, where it had been resting in defeat. When she looks up, she finds the elf’s eyes not in their usual, gray with their barely noticeable orange limbal ring, but an intense orange glow seeping out of the center and covering the whole surface, almost visibly illuminating the surrounding skin. At the sight she quickly begins to frown, a questioning look forming on her face.

 

“The high sun amplifies the magic of all high elves, even those who don’t use it or aren’t very proficient in it.” Sylvanas explains. They will be like this for at least a month.

 

“I always thought that was highly exaggerated. Does it effect you in any other way?” Jaina replies curiously, getting closer, to inspect the elf’s face.

 

“Yes it...” Sylvanas strangely pauses for a second “heightens many of your body functions. It’s almost impossible to get exhausted from physical activity during the height of summer.” she chooses her words very carefully. Unfortunately for her, Kael’Thas picks this exact moment to casually wander into the apartment, Velonara in tow. The man is visibly in an exceptionally good mood, exemplified by his very energetic stride for this time of day. Vel, sports an equally cheerful expression though, prancing towards the kitchen.

 

“Light, I love the first day of summer!” he announces cheerily and wraps an arm around the tall elf woman’s shoulders, before pressing a quick kiss to her temple, that brings a slight grimace to her face, and without further ado walks over to Jaina picking her up by her shoulders, lightly shaking his head in feign disbelieve, before with a nod of his head fixing up her attire and general appearance, and she suddenly looks like she just came out of the shower on a regular winter day. The human can only react with a surprise squeak. He really has perfected vanity magic. Sylvanas has to give him that.

 

“Nice outfit!” he comments a second later, pointedly seizing up the blonde still in his grasp. “Didn’t know you had it in you.” he grins, and before Jaina can say anything, as usual is quick to help himself to some coffee.

At his comment the other elf as subtle as possible straightens out her posture and leans in to catch a quick glimpse around the counter. She is greeted with the sight of the shorter woman’s bare legs sticking out from a pair of rather short jeans hot pants, in combination with the white blouse that on second look has only a few buttons done in her middle, and leaves a considerable amount of skin visible. She blinks owlishly a the view – Don’t blame her, it’s the first day of summer after all – but before she can attract any suspicion, Kael speaks again, and she is not sure whether he is going to rescue her or call her out, or worse. If he makes a comment on her ears, she is simply going to kill him; I’d be in self-defense. _Please don’t let Jaina notice._

 

 

Jaina in turn not so subtle leans in to take a closer look at the shorter elf woman’s face. True to what her roommate has told her, Vel’s eyes are glowing too, not in orange like Sylvanas’ but in a very deep blue, almost akin to her usual eye color, that instead of illuminating its surrounding almost sucks her in as she looks at it.

 

“Ah, the first day of summer. Have you done anything… _fun_ … last night?” Kael inquires with an impish smile on his face, and takes a seat next to Sylvanas. No that he is a little closer Jaina can clearly see the sharp, pink glow of his eyes, tinting them purple where the glow meets his usual eye color, streaked with pink. It’s much more intense then the other’s, and Jaina quickly discerns magical strength must also play a part.

 

“Had to work.” Sylvanas replies through clenched teeth.

 

“Shame...” he begins, but a blink of an eye later winces in pain and falls silent, as his friend twists the pinky of his hand not resting on the counter in hers.

 

“Are you going to do something today? I understand it’s the first day of semester break?” he quickly changes the subject. Or, does he?

 

“I promised to help Salandria with the more practical aspects of her magic. The girl has straight As, except for actual magic. The professor and I have been piling extra credits onto her arcane magic exam to lift her to the necessary score to pass the class. _Which she all earned fair and square!_ ”

 

“Bet she’s done something appropriate...” Kael begins again, but is quickly shot down by Velonara, who reaches around the side of the counter, pinching him, eliciting an audible yelp.

 

“ _Traitor._ ”

 

“ _Long live the queen._ ” the shorter elf mock whispers, an overly serious expression on her face.

 

Jaina looks between them with her, by now almost natural, questioning expression, but then only shakes her head and after a quick glance at her watch gets up.

 

“Oh, I have to go now. Have a nice day you three.” the human says, before quickly throwing her bag over her shoulder and picking up her staff, and slides into a pair of white fabric sneakers next to the door. A moment after opening the apartment door, she hastily returns to the kitchen once again, retrieving two bottles of water from the fridge, before leaving, prompting her roommate to shake her head at her.

 

“Don’t stay in the sun too long.” Sylvanas calls after her.

 

“How old do I look to you?” comes a reply, and suddenly all three elves visibly struggle with not making a snide remark at that.

 

“Bye!”

 

 

 

“Sorry, I’m late Miss Proudmoore!” Salandria calls out of breath, as she rounds the corner to the ruined sports stadium the magic departments of the university use for training.

 

“No problem. I just arrive myself. The sun is killing me.” the human replies waving at her student from the large piece of rubble she is sitting under one of the few trees growing inside the ruins.

 

“I’ve been staying at my girlfriend’s on the other end of town… summer and all that.” the young elf woman informs her teacher, and suddenly a little blush settles on her face. “Not that that’s an excuse or anything...” she quickly relativizes.

 

“Oh, have you been doing something nice yesterday?” Jaina asks innocently, immediately making the girls wary expression soften and turn a little questioning.

 

“ _Uhm_ , yeah, I mean…” she fidgets for a second, trying to find the right words. “Summer hit me really bad. My first time actually. Late bloomer….” She explains, a little rambling, the blush returning to her face. To her great surprise her teacher’s expression turns slightly confused.

 

“What’s wrong with summer?” Jaina asks honestly worried about the strange behavior of the young elf.

 

“You know…” Salandria quickly eyes her feet. “ _Please-don’t-make-_ _me-_ _spell-it-out_.” she pleads.

 

“Make you spell out what?” the human raises an eyebrow at her, visibly confused now.

 

“You don’t know?” the girl seems honestly baffled.

 

 

 

 

 

“And if you don’t have partner?” Jaina asks interested as Salandria morphs her construct into another shape. Believe it or not, having Salandria iterating the intricacies of elf physiology and sexuality to her teacher actually had quite the positive impact on her training. Somehow her command over her magical abilities increases once she doesn’t focus to hard.

 

“Well, if you are younger there are actually parties…. You didn’t hear that from me.” the construct almost collapses for a moment, before the girl composes herself again. “Most of the adults probably just wait it out. Also there is prostitution… But I suppose you know that.”

 

“What does the ear thing mean?” Jaina suddenly remembers.

 

“You mean the ears tilting up?” Salandria lets out a little laugh. The human mage only hums acknowledgingly.

 

“It’s a sign of attraction or arousal. In school the teacher told us it’s so the elf would stand out from a group of possible mates.” the girl goes on.

 

“ _Oh_.” Jaina says quietly, mostly to herself.

 

 

 

 

“I though you would know.” Salandria hands Jaina one of the water bottles from her bag, as she makes herself comfortable on the rock next to her.

 

“I had no idea.” the older woman purses her lips, looks away a little.

 

“I just thought since you and Sylvanas…. I never dared to ask after that day.”

 

“Oh, we are not… We are just living together.” the whole situation somehow feels a lot like she is having a déjà vu.

 

“What does Sylvanas do?” the girl asks, for a moment not considering how personal that question is, but immediately starts to flail her arms. “No I mean, that’s none of my business!”

 

“I don’t actually know.” Jaina muses nonetheless. “Is it bad… to _not_ to...”

 

“I don’t really know. It was bad for me… I felt like… like I have this energy in me, that wants out, an overwhelming need that I couldn’t do anything about. But as I said. It’s my _first_ real summer. It’s probably not as bad.”

 

“Thanks for telling me all this. I didn’t know… it seems very personal.” Jaina says warmly. “After all that, it’s probably reasonable when you call me Jaina. _When no other students are around._ If you want.”

 

“Well. You didn’t know. And I haven’t talked to anyone about it either. My parents are a little more... traditional. I’d probably die telling my mom.” the young elf grins at her.

 

“Tell me about it!” the older mage replies quietly.

 

 

 

 

When she hears the knock on the door a few minutes later, Sylvanas is ninety nine percent sure Kael is just doing it to annoy her, because he must know she’d be going to rest, and try to keep her mind occupied. When she eventually opens the door, quietly cursing and rolling her eyes at her insufferable friend. she can’t help but look at the unexpected figure in front of her dumbfounded.

 

“You?”


	14. You Suck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you should probably take a seat.

“Hey Sylvanas.” the woman in front hers voice greets the tall elf meekly.

 

“What are you doing here?” the tall elf immediately inquires sharply, skipping over all kinds of pleasantries.

 

“Good to see you too, how have been?” the silver haired woman quips with a wry smile, only for second the white glow of her otherwise sky blue eyes flaring up at the other woman Sylvanas closes her eyes for a short moment, tilts back her head, trying to make up her mind as to how she is going to react; At all.

 

“Mela. Why are you here?” she eventually inquires more calmly, crosses her arms in front of her body, pointedly blocking the path inside.

 

“I’m on vacation. Silvermoon is still my home, you know. And yes, I know it’s also summer, and I know how that looks, but I missed you?” the slightly shorter elf argues, not taking her eyes off the other woman.

 

“You missed me.” Sylvanas parrots annoyed, doesn’t change her posture at all.

 

“Yes, I missed you. I _care_ for you.” the other elf argues, audibly also a little annoyed.

 

“That would be a first.” the taller woman replies sarcastically.

 

Melaeth pointedly removes a strain of her hair that’s not part of the elaborate braids winding their way around her head. from her face with her hand and tugs it behind her ear.

 

“Can I come in?”

 

“I’d rather you don’t.” the blonde replies unfazed by her act.

 

At that the shorter elf reaches out, and slowly but steadily unfolds the other elf’s arms, eventually taking both her hands into hers. The gesture sends a little shiver through Sylvanas’ body. The irritation, and at the same time familiarity of the touch, throwing her off.

 

“I just want to talk. Please?” she takes half a step forward, now look up at the tall elf.

 

It takes the taller woman a second to compose herself, but then she quickly shakes off the other woman’s grip and retracts her hands, still a less than favorable expression on her face. Nonetheless she eventually steps aside and lets her pass, a stern expression on her face.

For the briefest moment something like a smile appears on the shorter elf’s face, before she quietly folds her hands in front of her body, and speedily makes her way past the other woman and inside.

Sylvanas pointedly leads her to the kitchen instead of the coach, and makes an effort to keep the maximum amount of physical space between them.

 

“How have you been?” the silver haired woman asks gingerly, a little uncomfortably shifts in her seat opposite the other woman.

 

“Can’t complain.” Sylvanas replies curtly and again folds her arms in front of her body.

 

“I see you have a new roommate.” Melaeth pointedly nods towards the bookshelf next to the TV.

“Yes.”

 

“Well, that’s good. _Good_. How are they?” her former roommate follows up. “Do you mind if I get myself a glass of water?” she adds, and before the other woman even manages to answer jittery jumps off her seat and familiarly grabs a glass from one of the cabinets and fills it under the faucet.

 

“They –” Sylvanas omits the fact Jaina is a woman, and all the implications, admittedly one of the people that know her the best would immediately deduct. “– are very quiet and exceptional orderly.”

 

“I have a hard time believing that.” Melaeth waves the book she found on top of the microwave at her host.

 

“I frankly don’t care.”

 

“Well...” the shorter elf draws out and takes off the loose, white tank top that could almost have doubled as a dress, completely revealing the silky gray strapless crop top she wears underneath. “I hope you don’t mind?” she interjects, giving Sylvanas an overly innocent look again. “I’m not really accustomed to Thalassian summer anymore.”

 

For a short moment Sylvanas actually considers asking her to put on the dress again, but the other woman is already done turning the clothing into an apron around her waist, now covering the black lace shorts she is wearing – A functionality, that apparently was build into the tops design – but then opts for just rolling her eyes at her insolence.

 

“Anyways. _I_ _am_ doing _amazing_.” she goes on. The tall elf woman in the meantime takes a little to long to tear away her gaze from the necklace she hadn’t noticed before. The coat of arms of Quel’Thalas, but not in one of the usual colors, but black onyx, and containing bow and arrow. It doesn’t take long for the other woman to catch up on the fact Sylvanas is basically staring directly at her cleavage, and she pointedly looks down, following her gaze, smirking once their eyes meet again.

 

“You still have that.” Sylvanas says a little quietly, and quickly looks away.

 

“Of course I have. It’s one of my most prized possessions. The last thing to remember you by.” she replies confidently, tilts her head a little, now a soft smile on her face.

 

“Oh, don’t give me that crap.” Sylvanas quasi jumps up from her seat, her voice suddenly filled with anger again. “You never cared about me, or _us_. You always just decided, and when I didn’t want to play along anymore you just barged out.” she huffs accusingly and points at the door.

 

“And I regret that ever since.” Melaeth offers, stands up herself, her hands propped onto the surface off the kitchen, island leaning in a little.

 

“ _Oh_ , you regret it. Well that makes everything better.” the taller woman snaps sarcastically.

 

“I didn’t say that. But what am I supposed to say anyway? I _am_ sorry, and I missed you.” the silver haired elf shoots back.

 

“If you missed me so damn much, why didn’t you call a single time? Why didn’t you write? No. You just left. _While I was on shift_.” Sylvanas keeps on snarling, lets her open hand fall onto the surface of the counter with a bang for emphasis.

 

“And that was a shitty thing to do. I know that now.”

 

“Yes. It was a shitty thing to do. You know what was even shittier? Crawling back to my mother and telling her I wasn’t leaving after all.” Sylvanas throws her hands in the air, then turns around and rests her hands on the edge of the sink.

 

“Wait, you did what?” for the first time the shorter woman’s voice lacks the confidence she had before, for the first time since she arrived what she says feel completely sincere.

 

“You heard me. And that that even surprises you, should tell you all you need to know.” Sylvanas anger starts to cool down, although she is practically trembling.

 

“I’m so sorry.” Melaeth replies sheepishly, takes a step back.

 

“Yeah, you are sorry, you already said that.” the taller elf turns around, now leaning against the counter, and folds her arms in front of her body again.

 

“ _Baby_ , I’m so sorry.” Melaeth visibly hesitates to get closer.

 

“Spare me please.” the other elf rolls her eyes again.

 

“No, I mean that.” she pauses. “I can’t reverse time, or undo what I did. But I would if I could, and I’m very sorry for what I did to you. This...” she makes an including gesture around the apartment with her hand. “This is the pest thing that ever happened to me. _You_ are.”

 

“Well, we will never know now.” Sylvanas replies noticeably less hostile, more sad.

 

“I’m sorry.” the shorter elf repeats again, takes but a single step forward. A long moment goes by in silence where both of them just look around, avoiding each other’s gaze.

 

“I don’t want to force anything. But maybe… maybe we can be friends again?” Melaeth eventually breaks the silence. “I know it’s a lot to ask. And I won’t pretend the past didn’t happen… But can you maybe think about it?” she bargains, but doesn’t receive an answer.

 

“This belongs to you.” the shorter elf says softly, reaches behind her neck, and takes off the necklace, pointedly placing the pendant on the counter between them. The other woman only looks at her neutrally, a mixture of sadness and regret behind her otherwise stoic expression.

 

“I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry. It was nice to see you nonetheless.” the silver haired elf says, still a little sheepishly and fidgets a little in her spot, the white glow in her eyes dimming down into nonexistence, as the other woman hasn’t reacted yet, at all.

 

After another long pause Sylvanas eventually sighs loudly and stretches her neck for a moment.

 

“I’m not making any promises.” she concedes, still hesitantly, purses her lips. There is this strange attraction, that still, after all this time, instantly pulls her towards her former ‘roommate’. Almost a natural reflex, only hindered by the memory, and crushing feeling of defeat and helplessness, of opening the apartment door and finding half of the stuff simply gone.

 

“Is all I’m asking.” Melaeth replies with a little smile, rocks back and forth on her heels for a moment, pursing her lips herself.

 

Sylvanas quietly walks past her and towards the door, her eyes trained forward, ignoring the almost expecting expression on the shorter woman’s face, and takes her place next to the door to bid her farewell; Against her better judgment seriously considering their past and future.

 

After a while of just standing there, aimlessly looking around the room, Melaeth puts on her top again, this time without any kind of innuendo, and quietly makes her way over to the door too, her head bowed a little.

 

“Until then?” the shorter elf asks gingerly, starts reaching out to take the other woman’s hands again, but hesitates just before actually grabbing onto them. But then Sylvanas exhales in this sort of defeated tone, that makes her really sad too, and she joins there hands after all, pulling herself a little closer.

There is an intense moment of undefinable tension, as she once again looks up at the taller elf, both their sad expressions speaking volumes. Sylvanas hesitates herself, eyeing Melaeth, trying to contain the confusing vortex of feelings, and eventually frees her hand, reach out and cautiously grabbing onto her body, to push her away.

 

 

 

 

 

“Thanks for coming!” Jaina greets Vel, as the short elf rounds the corner to the cafe she and Salandria are sitting in. As usually the ranger is clad in all black, prompting the human to grimace at the though of how warm she must be in that outfit, a friendly smile beaming at both of them form under the banks of her pixie cut.

 

“Of course. What is it? You sounded petty urgent.” she simply waves at Salandria, and slouches down into the free chair at the table.

 

“Well, _Uh_ , no. I was just thinking, _Uhm_ , how I could, like, make Sylvanas’ day. And though maybe something about the music you both like, and I don’t know anything about.” Jaina explains, and looks at the elf sheepishly, suddenly unsure about her decision to get her involved. She supposes she ‘d rather have Vel on board then Kael; For obvious reasons.

 

“ _Oh_ , sure, what did you think of?” the older elf smiles friendly, and adjusts herself into a less casual pose.

 

“Well, I was talking to Salandria, and she told me about that _club_ –” the way the word comes over Jaina’s lips like something completely alien elicits a little giggle form Vel “– and apparently they have a lot of different acts, but the website says there is a big, like Gilneic festival coming up, and I thought you could tell me if there is anything in the lineup she likes in particular?” the mage rambles a little.

 

“You want to take Sylvanas to Blacksun?” Velonara says, a mixture of surprised and amused.

“Yes?” the blonde replies, not very confidently.

 

“Yes.” Salandria chimes in, grinning at Vel over the edge of her phone.

 

“Do you have the lineup? I didn’t check who’s up this year.” the other woman replies friendly, and leans in, so both of them can look at the screen of Jaina’s phone.

 

“What about Garrosh, they are the headliner?”

 

“ _Pfff_ , no, they are just really popular right now. That’s all. Wait a second...” Vel goes over the list of acts. “Here, Anar'alah. It’s her favorite band from when we were younger. They don’t actually play that many concerts anymore. And they are on the second they, and I know for a fact she is off duty the next day.” Vel tabs the screen.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Thank you so much!”

 

“But I didn’t do anything.” the shorter woman shrugs. “But if you insist, you can treat me to one of those iced coffees.” she adds with a happy smile.

 

 

 

 

When Jaina pushes open the apartment door, Velonara closely behind her, she is greeted with the sight of Sylvanas and another woman standing close to each other. The unknown woman is short for an elf, not unlike Vel, has sky blue eyes and silver hair, her face adorned with dozens of little freckles, not a very common sight for an elf.

The taller elf’s hands are resting on the woman’s hips, and just as she takes in the scene, the strange woman reaches up and cups her roommate’s face, before gently pulling herself up and joining their lips. For a second she thinks Sylvanas will push her away, but then nothing happens, and they stay like this for a few seconds, before they become aware of the new arrivals. The humans almost euphoric happiness immediately vanishes, and is replaced with something entirely different, as the tall woman now quickly pushes away Melaeth from her, hastily retracting her hand and almost jumping away, to increase the distance between them.

 

“Jaina.” she eventually manages, but it’s all to late.

 

The mage just stands there dumbfounded, not really believing her eyes. A sort of helpless quasi panic settling on her face, while the shorter ranger in the background’s eyes go wide with disbelief, and all four of them just stand their, staring at each other.

Before Sylvanas can gain enough composure to say something else, Jaina blinks a few times, then simply turns on her heels and quickly strides away, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

 

Velonara, takes another moment to fully grasp what has transpired, then hostilely narrows her eyes at her old friend, completely ignoring the silver haired intruder, before simply uttering “You suck.”


	15. Frankly, She is adorable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was brought to you by my favorite song of all time on repeat.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Hb8pCxli0

It's the early hours of Sunday morning, when Sylvanas finally pushes open the apartment door, and drags herself inside, tired from a long day, and drained by the recent physical and emotional distance between her and Jaina. When she unenthusiastically pushes the door close with her foot, already throwing away a layer of her uniform, she finds the ground sporadically covered with a number of different items of clothing, forming a little trail leading to the blonde mage's bedroom. – Two sets of clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

“What are you doing tonight? Do you want to watch TV or something?”

“No. I have to grade papers. Maybe another time.”

“Another time.”

 

 

“Hey, I was thinking we could swing by Chen’s tomorrow evening after my shift. It’s been so long.”

“I’d love to, but I have to finish preparing this lecture.”

 

 

“There is a small movie theater opening over in the old warehouse down the street. Do you want to check it out? They are having a documentary night.”

“I’m not feeling that well. Maybe next time.”

 

 

“Do you want to do something tomorrow evening? I could cook and we then we watch Hela’s Kitchen. Last night shift tonight, so I’m free tomorrow.”

 

 

“Hmm, I don’t know yet, I’m going out tonight. So I might be hung over tomorrow.” Jaina replies politely, pulls her reading glasses off her face, and looks at the taller elf woman neutrally.

 

“You are going out?” Sylvanas asks dumbfounded, instinctively gets closer, as to protect the shorter blonde.

 

“Yeah. Kael asked me, and honestly I need it.” she replies with certain weight, practically acknowledging the many times she has turned the other woman down the past weeks.

 

“I… _Uh_.. Have fun...” Sylvanas replies, meekly, willing a neutral expression onto her face and leaves. After all she has no right to complain, or demand anything. It’s not like they are a couple, or have been, or whatever. And she has to go work in an hour. She knows Kael is going to protect her _friend_. So there is _absolutely_ _nothing_ to be worried about.

 

 

 

“Hey, have you decided what you are going to wear yet?” Kael throws his arm around the human and pulls her closer into a friendly hug.

 

“ _Uhm_ , yes. You are looking at it?” Jaina replies, gesturing at the blouse and skirt combo that basically looks like a variation of what she usually wears to work.

 

“You can’t be serious!” the elf immediately says, and gets of them spot on the couch she has just dropped into. “There has to be something… better.”

 

“I… what do you mean?”

 

“Follow me.”

 

Jaina reluctantly does, and a few moments later she is sat on her bed, while Kael’Thas is rummaging through her wardrobe.

 

“No. No. Meh… Why?… Oh that’s a nice bra.” The item in question hits the blonde right in the face a moment later. “And there are the panties to match.”

 

“Why would I...”

 

“Hold that please.” He hands her a pair of jeans she can’t remember when she wore the last time.

 

“Are these all your shoes?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Okay, I don’t like to say it, but that won’t do. Wait a second.” he announces and naturally strides over to Sylvanas’ room, leaving Jaina with a mildly confused expression on her face, a pair of jeans in her hand. Two minutes later he returns with a pair of dark blue pumps that also seem to sparkle a little, and a white t shirt with very wide cut arms, that has a simply stylized image of the sun and the moon on it, with single sequins as stars.

 

“This should be your size. Well you have a little more… but that won’t be a problem.” He smiles cheerily, prompting Jaina to look down at her body with a little frown.

 

“We don’t wear the same shoe size.” she says a second later, but Kael just waves her off, making a sweeping gesture with his hand, resizing the shoes in the process. – Vanity magic.

 

“What are you waiting for… try it on.” he demands with a smile.

 

“ _Uh_ ….” Jaina hesitates, but gets of the surface of the bed.

 

“ _Oh_. I have seen it all. Does nothing for me. Don’t worry.” he informs her cheerily, doesn’t make any effort to leave at first, but just as a helpless look settles on the human’s face turns around with an amicable smile and settles on the couch in the living room for the time being.

 

 

“That’s amazing!” He greets the short blonde once she exits her room, glad in the outfit he picked out. The shirt fits her, the large arm holes opening up the sight of the dark blue lace bralette. The jeans effortlessly compliment her backside, just as he thought, and the moderate heels and little plateau give her just enough of a height boost to pull it off.

 

“Won’t Sylvanas mind I took her stuff?” Jaina ignores the compliment, an honestly worried expression on her face.

 

“ _Pffff_ , she won’t even notice. She wore both of these once. That was the day I for… _implored_ her to buy them on our last shopping tour.”

“Okay.”

 

“What are you going to do with your hair?” he asks. The honest wonder in his voice making Jaina cringe a little.

 

“I was going like this?” she gestures at her head, that sports the usual braid. Kael inhales deeply, doesn’t want to mock her too much. After all she is who she is, but nonetheless pulls out his phone and dials as number.

 

“Hey, yeah, it’s me. I missed you too.” His voice is sweet as honey but also kind of sarcastically fake. “I need to call in a favor…. What do you mean _I_ owe you one…. Okay, make it two. Yes. Yes I know.”

 

 

 

“What can you do about this?” Kael greets the brunette apparently awaiting them as they step out his portal in the midst of what looks like a strip club to Jaina.

 

“I’m sorry, we don’t do facial reconstructions here.” the short elf woman in the skimpy outfit, that immediately makes the human want to blush, quips good-naturedly, and she and Kael greet each other with an intimate hug. The short blonde wants to protest, but is so irritated by the whole scene, that she can’t. A moment later she is dragged backstage and placed on a chair in front of a mirror, intensely scrutinized by both the elves from all sides.

 

 

“I was thinking something a little more natural. Don’t make her look like she’s in drag. _Or_ a raccoon.” Kael argues as the brunette unbraids Jaina’s hair, checks its volume and fans it out behind her head once.

 

“You are probably right. Do you mind if I cut your hair a little? Give it some… _any_ form? I’m Terisé by the way.” she says casually, and before Jaina can even _voice_ an opinion, she can hear, and feel a pair of scissors and a comp going through her hair. Completely overwhelmed by the experience she has no choice but to let it happen. And _maybe_ a little change won’t hurt.

 

“What’s with the white strain?”

 

“Happens to most human mages.” Kael chimes in from his spot on the large purple sofa in the corner, the blonde barely manages to hum agreeingly, as she watches little bits of her hair fall off her head.

 

 

About two hours, and a lot of small talk, somewhat inappropriate stories, that Jaina would actually file under oversharing, later the tips of her hair are as white as the natural strain, flawlessly transitioning into white highlights on her otherwise natural blonde hair. Her hair has some structure and layering to it, but still looks as long as it was before, most of it falling down her back in large waves, while only part of it is braided to both sides of her head like a crown culminating in a single loose knot on the back of her head.

It strangely suits her, and still very much feels like herself, bringing a little smile to her face, as she admires her own reflection in the mirror. The coral eyeshadow and some blush are barely noticeable. Only the slightly more intense color of her lips standing out.

 

“Perfect. You have outdone yourself.” Kael announces, reassuringly squeezes Jaina’s shoulders, and nods towards Terisé.

 

“I like it.” the human affirms, although still looking a little unbelieving at her own reflection.

 

“Let me just snap a picture to capture this moment for generations to come. Turn towards me, and try looking even hotter.” he instructs casually.

 

“I _Uh_ ….”

 

“All done. I’m sending it to you, so you have something to show off after this evening.” Kael informs her, as he starts typing on his phone again.

 

‘Would you look at that.’ Send to _the angry windrunner_.

 

 

 

Sylvanas inhales deeply as she looks at the picture. Of course Kael’Thas would do something like this. He couldn’t just let it rest. He has to drag Jaina with him on one of his stupid escapades. And of course he’d doll her up like that. The elf smiles sadly at the picture, spending a short moment actually admiring the sight, before putting away the phone to return to her paper work. She can see Vel scrutinizing her from the corner of her eyes across the desk. She briefly considers addressing their little altercation, but then thinks better of it, and only sighs again, before dropping her gaze.

 

 

 

 

What Kael’Thas didn’t account for is the hordes of human’s who probably read about elves and summer in some life style magazine, and are now hanging around the clubs and bars, thinking they’ll be greeted with a buffet of desperate elves. The view of the line in front of the club briefly makes him roll his eyes. But he still thinks dragging Jaina directly to one of his favorite clubs might be too overwhelming, and above all he wants her to have fun on this trip.

When they are inside, Jaina, despite her impeccable looks, still looks very uncomfortable and really out of place, only hanging around their table, and nipping at her drink. Nonetheless her looks attract lots of attention from the usual assholes who have already bounced off three fourths of the elf women in the establishment and now settle for the attractive human. Unsolicitedly sitting down next to her, trying to strike up a conversation about how they can’t take their eyes off such a beautiful woman. – He really wants to puke. Luckily practically all of them really _mind_ having Kael sandwiching them between him and Jaina, and casually ‘striking up a conversation’ with _them_.

The rest of the first few hours goes exactly like that. The crowd isn’t really all that interesting. Even Kael wrinkles his nose at the few opportunities that present themselves. The music isn’t really fun, and the place is crawling with people like the one from earlier. The final straw comes when Kael witnesses someone spiking Jaina’s drink as she, eventually having warmed up a little bit, chats with him at the bar, waiting for their next round of drinks while Kael used the bathroom.

 

Kael really want to see the face of the Archmage having to puick him up from the top of the Violet Citadel. Totally worth the spellbreaker lecture about spell safety.

 

 

“Wait, how did you get us here? This place is protected!” Jaina asks as they step out of the portal in front of ladies’ room of the VIP section of Belore'dorei, the most famous queer club of Silvermoon.

 

“I’m the one who crafted that cypher.” the man informs her with a self-congratulatory smile. “Let’s get something to drink.”

 

Judging by the way she starts to light up after about half an hour Kael did actually underestimate Jaina quite about. Where she isn’t outright having fun she looks with honest wonder at all the colors and people. Although he has to drag onto the dance floor the first time, after a while, albeit a little awkward, she actually seems to enjoy herself quite a bit. Kael is pretty sure she doesn’t notice how often she is flirted with, though, as she is engulfed in a little crowd of women roughly her age, who all seem to enjoy themselves as much. He really should have made Sylvanas bet him on that.

 

 

 

“Hey. Kael.” Jaina asks as they hang out on the balcony of the VIP lounge to get some air. It’s already pretty late, and albeit not drunk per se, after spending the better part of to hours inaptly but enthusiastically hopping around the dance floor, Jaina now has that touch of melancholic drunkenness.

 

“ _Hmmm_.”

 

“Do you think Sylvanas still loves Melaeth?”

 

“I actually don’t think she does. She’s just hung up on what she represents. Why are you asking?”

 

“Oh, its nothing. I was just wondering.” Jaina replies with a neutral face. Although the way her voice jumps half an octave mid sentence his kind of hilarious.

 

“Okay.” the elf says warmly and wraps his arm around the woman next to him, briefly resting their heads together, eliciting a little, noticeably sad sigh from her.

 

 

 

It’s three in the morning, and Kael, after watching over her all evening, just returns from a little excursion himself, when he finds Jaina sitting at one of the tables, _with_ a human woman. Apparently completely hanging on her every word. He settles down a few tables next to them, turns just enough so he can still watch.

The woman has short-ish black hair, a lot of hairspray mostly fixing it in place, only a few strains from time to time falling into her face. She aptly removes them with a warm smile, seems to listen to what Jaina has to say, not once cutting her off, at times only nodding along. Gently connecting their hands from time to time. She is quite attractive Kael things, and he can see she is also honest. But something about her also reminds him of himself.

But Jaina seems to enjoy herself. Laughing along when the woman speaks, even getting a little closer to her, making dove eyes across the table, smiling the whole time.

 

Maybe it’s not meant to be.

 

 

 

 

 

The door isn’t completely close, enough reason for her to rationalize taking a look, as the sound of her heart starts drowning everything else out, the dread of what she might find starts consuming her. At first she didn’t even know why it had bothered Jaina so much. Why she even cared. The longer she thought about it, the quicker they grew apart over the days following that moment, that stupid moment – her only weakness of all things in the world. Maybe she should have listened to Kael’Thas. But how was she supposed to know?

 

She internally steels herself once more, preparing the face inevitable. – _She saw the picture_. Sylvanas pushes the door open and finds Jaina sleeping, the same, sad expression she had back then on her face. She wears a simple gray tee she must have picked up on her way in, the word _ranger_ on her chest in slightly faded letters. She looks so incredibly sad, quasi holding onto the fabric of the shirt.

Only now Sylvanas’ attention falls onto the other figure laying in the dark of the room. Her brain didn’t really let her see it until now. Or didn’t want to let her see. But now she does. Jaina is held tight; Held tight by _Kael’Thas_. Kael’Thas who just casually lies there. Even in his sleep that stupid, self-righteous smile on his face, reeking of alcohol and smoke.

The thudding of Sylvanas’ heart abruptly stops, and for a moment she isn’t even sure what she feels. _Relieve_. She is relieved. Overcome by the feeling, the remnants of all being lost, she sinks against the frame of her own door, barely keeping herself from quietly sobbing over how relieved she is.

 

 _Fucking Kael’Thas_ she chuckles to herself in the darkness, spends another moment just sitting there, blankly staring out the window in Jaina’s room, eventually sees the a little pools of condensed water on the sill.

She smiles at herself, breaths another sigh of relieve, choking back a sob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I like you.” Kael’Thas greets the older, raven haired human at the table, currently vaguely longingly following his blonde’s mage friend’s path to the ladies’ room, brightly, and places another one of the drink she already has in front of her, before like no bodies business dropping into the seat formally occupied by Jaina. It’s pretty late, and the music isn’t that loud anymore, so they are mostly able to speak comfortably, without screaming at each other.

 

“You are the gay sidekick, aren’t you? Don’t think I didn’t recognize you lurking over there.” the woman greets him with an amused smile.

 

“What gave me away?” Kael grins, pointedly looks down at himself, tugging at the cuffs of his magenta colored shirt. – it has sequins on it.

 

“Educated guess. What do you want?” she empties her glass, and without hesitation switches it for the one the elf has brought her.

 

“I like you.” he repeats seriously. “And I think you have already picked up on the fact this one isn’t particular experienced.”

His opposite only hums acknowledingly, takes a sip from her new drink. “You gonna give me _the_ _talk_? Because I can assure you, I’m not an asshole preying on baby lesbians for the fun of it. If she just wants to sleep, we are going to just sleep. _If anything._ ”

 

“No, I’m actually going to ask you to back away.” Kael says seriously, holds her slightly incredulous gaze for dramatic effect.

 

“And why would I do that? She doesn’t look particularly under-aged to me.” the woman replies with a raised eyebrow, but her tone suggests she is not being difficult, just asking.

 

“You and her want completely different things out of this, and I think you know that.” he says, gives her this intense look.

 

“True.” she replies. “She is also an adult.”

 

“You have seen her; Everything is new.” he goes on, then pauses.

 

“There is this woman.” he informs her. “I honestly think it’s going to work out. And I’m not saying that because I know the other one since we were children, which I do. But I can’t force you to step away. The Light knows I’m prone to this kind of endeavor myself, but I’m still asking you.”

 

The woman visibly follows his explanation, nods agreeingly.

 

“I would owe you a favor. And believe me when I say, you want me to owe you a favor.” he holds out a business card to her.

 

“You know what Keel’Theis –” she obviously intentionally butchers his name looking at the card. “– I like you too. I think you _are_ an asshole for meddling like this, but I like you. And I like her. Frankly she is adorable. And I’d like to see where _this_ goes. But she _is_ kind of drunk. So I’m going to go with your judgment on this.” she pointedly raises her eyebrows at him.

 

“So we have an understanding.” Kael’Thas smiles cheerily.

 

“Yes, but I’m still taking your favor.” She smirks, comps her short black hair into place with her fingers and drops her card into the pocket of her shirt, pads it with her hand.

 

“Fair enough.”

 

“Tell me if it _doesn’t_ work out.” she winks at him, and then she is gone.

 

 

“Where is Alexandra?” Jaina asks confused, pouts a little at the sight of Kael’Thas sitting alone at the table.

 

“Oh, she had to go.”

 

“Did she leave her number?”

 

“No. I’m afraid she didn’t.”

 

At that Jaina pouts again, tries to make a serious face, but then almost face-plants because she trips out of one of her heels, and practically falls into Kael’s lap.

 

“Let’s get you home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may now stop hating Sylvanas.


	16. This whole mess you made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya! sorry, probably not the instant resolution you were hoping. Dare I say the chapter might be a little boring after the past few? 
> 
> Enjoy!

It takes Sylvanas about a minute to actually muster the conviction to actually let her raised hand knock at the door, but when she does it only takes about two seconds for an “It’s open!” to sound from the inside, and she hesitantly pushes open the door.

Vel is sitting butt naked – Nothing the taller elf hasn’t seen thousands of times since they were three – on the large bed in the center of the large studio apartment, her legs spread out on the surface, her body completely bathed in the warm noon sun streaming in through the ceiling-high windows of the old factory building the Farstriders live in; She is almost glowing with magic.

Sylvanas blinks at least a little irritated at the sight, as the shorter elf also holds a bowl of cereal in her hand and a cartoon is running on TV, while the blue squirrel spirit sits on top of her head.

 

“Who let _you_ in?” Vel greets her with feign indignation, sets down the bowl on the bed next to her, and folds her legs under herself.

 

“Lyana.” the taller woman answers truthfully, closes the door behind her. At work their relationship is pretty clear, even if Velonara wants to give her the cold shoulder, Sylvanas is still her superior, and so they were on an entirely professional basis the last days. Now, that she’s just standing there in her room, all that’s gone, and it’s just her best friend, and she’s completely at her mercy in that regard.

 

“She was always too soft.” the short blonde replies, wrinkles her nose a little. “What do you want?”

 

“Peace offering.” Sylvanas says meekly, and holds up the paper bag filled with fast food, she has brought. At that her friend immediately begins to jump off the bed, face lighting up with joy, as for a moment everything seems forgotten, but stops herself midway.

 

“I can’t be bought.” She announces, although she longingly eyes the bag.

 

“I’m not trying to _buy_ you. You can have it, and I’ll just leave.” the other woman informs her, and holds out the bag towards her, although Vel knows her well and long enough to know that that’s not really true. But she’s going to take it.

 

“ _And_...” she goes on, her legs now dangling from the edge of the bed “I’m not the one you need to make peace with.” She takes the bag from Sylvanas’ hand, and eagerly takes a peek inside. A moment later her old friend drops into the spot next to her, sighing loudly, noticeably hanging her head, and quietly holds out a large black tee, she took from the pile of laundry next to the door, to Velonara.

Vel actually considers to protest getting dressed, just to annoy her, but doesn’t and hands her the food back, as she wiggles into the shirt that could easily double as a dress.

 

“So. I’m listening.” the shorter elf says cheerily and fishes for the box of fries at the bottom of the bag.

 

“Where do I even start?”

 

“ _Oh_ , I don’t know, maybe when you suddenly decided you urgently needed to let Melaeth shove her tongue down your throat. And I’m giving you a lot of benefit here.” Velonara informs her slightly sarcastically, but holds a single fry out for the taller elf to take. At first Sylvanas hesitates, but then relents, taking the fry and popping into her mouth.

 

“It wasn’t like that.” Sylvanas protests, but falls silence again, considering how ridiculous her denial must sound.

 

“How was it then?” her best friend digs, although her voice is at least somewhat sympathetic. The tall elf woman sighs again.

 

“I was just seeing her out. I really did. There was nothing… Nothing remotely ambiguous about the whole thing until then. At first she was like usual. Self-righteous, frivolous. The whole deal. And I knew what she wanted. You know her. But then she was suddenly all nice and understanding, and it really seemed like she wanted to be just friends again.” Sylvanas iterates, pointedly looking away.

 

 

“For the love of the Light, _how_ did you fall for that?” the other elf huffs.

 

“It’s summer?” Sylvanas replies uncharacteristically half jokingly, making even Velonara chuckle a little over the otherwise so serious topic, and moment of silence goes by before Sylvanas speaks again. She supposes both of them know very well why that is.

 

“I just really missed her. Well not her, I guess. Otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here. I suppose I missed that feeling.” she concedes, steals a fry from box Vel is holding.

 

“Hey!”

 

“I paid for them.”

 

“It was still a shitty thing to do.” Velonara eventually replies, pointedly sets down the box on her opposite side, and starts rummaging through the bag to find a burger. “Especially after all the Jaina talk.” she finally gets to the point, gives Sylvanas a very reproachful look.

 

“How was I supposed to know?” Sylvanas argues, albeit meekly.

 

“That we were at the door? How would the fact she wouldn’t have seen make it any better?” Vel chides, mouth still half full with food.

 

“That’s not what I meant.” the taller elf rolls her eyes at her friend’s comment.

 

“You could have asked her, as I told you to.” the other woman says matter-of-factly, shrugs again, and takes a final bite.

 

“Why were you even together in the first place?” Sylvanas suddenly asks, turning the conversation on her friend.

 

“She asked my advice on something. I’m not gonna tell you. You’ll have to ask her yourself.” Velonara informs her. Sylvanas can see the impish grin spread on her face as she drops the wrapping the empty fry box and a used napkin she just cleaned her face with into the empty bag.

 

“You are no help at all.” she says in resignation.

 

“Excuse me, you came here _to make amends_.”

 

“You weren’t even affected.”

 

“I’m still disappointed in you.” Vel says with a hint of feign seriousness, and finally gets up from the bed. “Just admit it.”

 

“What?”

 

“You want to smooch her so bad!” Vel quasi exclaims, throws her arms into the air. Then after second hugs her own body, making kissing noises with her mouth and spinning around, almost dancing with herself.

 

“No, that’s not….”

 

“Sure.” the short elf purrs. “Why are we even having this discussion if you don’t care for her all that much?”

 

“I care. We are friends. She is very dear to me. Even if it’s a little _complicated_.”

 

“If you keep this up I’m gonna seriously barf.” Vel turns away and starts to rummage through the pile of clothes Sylvanas has picked the shirt from, finds a boyshorts swim bottom, holds it in front of her waist and literally jumps into it.

 

“Things are not always as simple as you make them out to be.” Sylvanas defends against the shorter elf’s continuous attack.

 

“Sylvanas.” Vel suddenly says very seriously, catching her friend’s complete and undivided attention, braces one hand against her hip. “Is it me, or did we go over this thirty seconds ago? What are you afraid of? You already know she likes you. And you like her. Just apologies and be done with it. It’s going to hurt her worse if you don’t, and just go on with this… whatever this is. You can’t just pretend nothing happened. If she didn’t care she wouldn’t have run away the second she saw you exchange fluids with that… _wench_.” her friend’s wording makes Sylvanas cringe a little.

 

“But I tried.” she retorts weakly, lets her body fall backwards onto the surface of the bed in defeat.

 

“No you didn’t, you tried to wiggle your way back into how things were before.” It suddenly occurs to Sylvanas that her best friend presumably has no direct way to know that – also, yeah, okay, she kind of did do that – and the fact somehow makes her worried.

 

“I think you did this ‘I’m above romance; Feelings are for losers.’ thing for long enough.” Vel rolls her eyes before getting rid of the t-shirt, now walking around the room at least partially naked again, gathers her short hair in a brushy ponytail, before putting on an oversize tank top. “And you didn’t even enjoy it all that much. All you do is sitting at home and brooding. _Or_ spending time with Jaina.” her tone is very accusing now. “It’s summer.”

 

When the short elf end her little monologue, there is long moment of silence, as Sylvanas blankly stares at the ceiling of the room, contemplating her friend’s words, until eventually a hands starts waving directly in front of her face. “Someone there?”

 

“Yes. _Yes_. I… I have to think about that.” Sylvanas replies.

 

“Don’t take too long.” Velonara says, rolls her eyes a little, but her tone is a lot more friendly again. The other woman only sadly hums at that.

 

“It’s still only Jaina.” she adds more empathetically, sits down next to her friend again, now that she’s completely dressed, and nudges her side a little, and they silent for another minute again, just lying there next to each other, like when they were little.

 

 

“We are driving up to Sunstrider Isle. You wanna come?” Velonara suddenly inquires. Her tone very much suggests the matter has already been decided for her.

 

“I don’t know. I don’t feel like it.”

 

“Come on. We are gonna be back by tomorrow evening. It’s gonna be fun. Like the old times.”

 

“The old times.” Sylvanas says, letting out a fake snort.

 

“Yes, the old times.” Vel huffs in feign affront. “Playing some ball. Making a camp fire. Drunkenly skinny dipping. Or are you suddenly above going to the beach? You have something better to do?” the short blonde chides. – No answer.

 

“I’ll take that as a no.”

 

“I don’t have anything on me.” Sylvanas argues a little desperate to get Vel off her case.

 

“Nice try.” Vel shrugs, and throws a black bikini she has preemptively procured from one of the drawers of her dresser directly at the other woman’s face. “And I’ve still got your emergency bag under my bed.”

 

_Fuck, she totally forgot about that._

 

“What about Jaina?” it’s a last ditch effort.

 

“What about her? You think she’s going to meet prince charming, have a child out of wedlock and getting married by tomorrow?”

 

Sylvanas only groans at her friend’s persistence. Also, she really doesn’t want to think about _that_.

 

“Come on. It will clear your mind. And afterwards we will deal with this whole mess you made.” Vel says warmly, and lifts her arm and lets it plummet right onto Sylvanas’ body.

 

“We?” the taller elf coughs, recovering from the hit.

 

“Yes? You would be hopelessly lost without me.” Vel establishes, sits up, now looking down at her friend with a serious expression. “You are my sister too.”

 

“Thank you.” Sylvanas says, and for a second Velonara thinks she is actually going to cry a little.

 

 

 

An hour later the four of them are huddled together in Anya’s rather compact open roofed off-roader, stuffed with a bunch of towels, four large gym bags full of stuff and camping equipment, driving down the open highway north under a perfectly blue sky, the sun shining down on them; A still a little disgruntled Sylvanas brooding in the backseat – Vel supposes that’s alright given all that has happened – while the Farstrider sisters are loudly singing along to some pop evergreen.


	17. She deserved that.

When the rangers pull into the parking lot in Sunspire it’s just past one am, testimony to Anya’s driving style, and the sun still burns bright from above, the intense flow of magic and energy even lifting Sylvanas’ still quite gloomy mood a little.

 

“Wait, did you make a reservation?” the tallest elf inquires as they load each other with their equipment.

 

“No. I just thought we might try to get a spot randomly. After all it’s _only_ the height of summer.” Well snarks, bumping her friend with her hip for emphasis, as she strolls past her, a large bag over her shoulder. Sylvanas only rolls her eyes at the comment, not really in a mood to engage in the sass.

 

“Kael’Thas did.” Velonara informs her when the other woman doesn’t react to her comment at all.

 

“Wait, Kael’Thas is coming too?” Sylvanas inquires hastily.

 

“Yeah. And Liadrin and Valeera.” Anya and Lyana walk past their friend, who suddenly just stands their dumbfounded.

 

“Wait, does that mean….”

 

“‘Don’t know.” Vel shrugs, vaguely dismissive waves her hand at Sylvanas without looking. “Are you coming?”

 

_These little traitors._

 

After registering at he little reception where a dwarf summer intern takes their credentials, they spend the walk down the trail to the beach mostly quiet. Sylvanas is obviously brooding, already dreading the thought Kael might drag Jaina along. And who is she trying to fool, of course he will.

Their camping spot is perfect though, as usually Kael has surpassed all expectations. They are right next to the beach, under a group of tall Eversong trees, that provide a pleasant amount of shade. Usually you would have to know a guy to even know these spots exist. She supposes the island is named Sunstrider Isle for a reason; Still though.

 

“You wanna go to the beach first?” Vel asks honestly as they set down their camping equipment in the designated spots. “We can put up the tents afterwards.”

 

Sylvanas eyes her indecisively, looking somewhat out of place even, but her expression softens changes eventually. “No. But you can go. I know how much you love the warm water. I can put up camp on my own.”

 

“ _Pfffff_. Stop moping already.” Vel immediately protests. A minute later they are already in middle of setting up camp.

 

After only half an hour the camp is set, and the rangers are changed into their swim wear, the triplets sporting matching but differently colored sport bikinis, and Sylvanas a little uncomfortable wearing the bikini Vel has lend her, even though it fits perfectly, and Velonara is ninety nine percent sure she owns exactly that bikini too, and huddled together on a group towels they have spread in the sand close to their camp.

 

“Do you have a seven?” Lyana asks, but doesn’t receive an answer right away, as the woman opposite her is lost in thought again. Not the first time this game.

 

“Vannas?” Vel says at least a little exasperated by her friend’s broodiness, and pokes her side with her index finger.

 

“Yes, what?” the tallest elf jumps at that, almost throws her cards into the air.

 

“You wanna do something else? We can box if you want. I brought training gloves.”

 

“Oh, no. This is fine.”

 

“Strange, since you barely took a look at your cards.” Sylvanas’ best friend quips, hands Lyana the seven she just spotted in the other woman’s hand.

 

Before Sylvanas can make any more excuses the air vibrates with magic for a moment, and just shortly after a portal appears only a few meters down beach, eventually spitting out Kael’Thas _and_ Jaina. _Just as she thought_ , Sylvanas sights to herself.

The moment is long enough for her to get a good glimpse at her roommate though. Jaina wears a short white beach dress, that is light enough to reveal the rather modest navy blue bikini underneath. The blonde carries a simple, blue and white striped kit bag over her shoulder and neutrally eyes her roommate over the edge of a pair of aviator shades that the elf is ninety percent sure are actually Kael’Thas’.

Her hair looks even better in person, if that’s even possible, even though she has only put it in a messy braid, with numerous curly strains of white and blonde hair dangling down all sides of her head.

Kael’Thas simply looks like Kael would. He already wears a white speedo, that has a gold hem, because, of course it does, and a plain white shirt on top, while his hair looks so unkempt, that she is actually sure a lot of work went into making it look like that, grinning at her through another pair of probably obscenely expensive sunglasses.

 

“Oh, Hey...” Sylvanas greets the pair once they are close enough, meekly raising a hand to wave, suddenly feeling really uncomfortable only dressed in the bikini Vel has lend her, awkwardly transitioning into fidgeting with the ponytail she has knotted her hair into for practical reasons.

 

“Hey.” Jaina replies evenly, only nodding back at her, as they still stand only a few meters apart from each other, and that’s all there is to it. Sylvanas isn’t sure if she is supposed to be happy about it or dread the lack of reaction.

Jaina and Kael settle a little away from the others. Kael doesn’t seem to really care, and Jaina is honestly still a little too hungover to deal with all this, so it’s probably for the best. Half an hour or so later Liadrin and her wife show up. The redhead is dressed in shorts and a simple crop top, while the blonde next to her wears a bright red sundress, that almost blinds Jaina as they step into the sun.

 

 

“You must be Jaina. I’m Valeera.” the blonde elf with long hair says with a happy smile once the couple reaches their little camp, stretches out her hand for Jaina to take.

 

“Oh, hi, you must be Liadrin’s wife. Nice to meet you.” Jaina gets up from her spot on the tree stump to return the greeting. “ _And_ you are a paladin too?” she asks, noticing the soft, golden glow of the blonde’s eyes. Although it almost looks like its obfuscating an entirely different color underneath.

 

“No, why would you…. _Oh_ the eyes, no that’s…. _osmosis_.” the elf informs her, an impish grin forming on her face.

 

The human takes a moment to fully comprehend what she is saying, given all the things she has learned the past weeks, but eventually catches on, as the grin widens on the elf’s face at the few expression she goes through while thinking about it.

 

“Jaina.” Liadrin’s soothingly warm voice greets her as the redhead comes up behind her wife. “How are you?”

 

“I’m good. How are you?”

 

“Oh, you know, the usual. Crime never sleeps.” the visibly fit and strong elf woman quips. Jaina can’t help but wonder how buff Sylvanas’ old friend actually is. It had been barely noticeably when they saw each other the first time. Now, with her wearing only shorts and sport crop top, she can clearly see the muscles, _and_ the scars covering them.

 

“Liadrin!” Kael greets the redhead, prompting Jaina to finally stop pondering the scars and tearing away her gaze from the tall elf’s body.

 

“If it isn’t my favorite artillery piece.” Liadrin gives back, and they grab onto each other’s forearm, holding onto each other for a second, before also springing into a hug.

 

“Valeera. So glad you could make it, too.” the man goes on with a grin, lets go of the redhead in favor of throwing his arms around the blonde elf.

 

“Strangely the ministry decided to pull back most of the high ranking elf operators during summer.” she raises an eyebrow at him. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?”

 

“Me? I’m sorry, I think that’s even above my ability.” Kael replies an overly innocent expression on his face. Both the elf women only hum at that knowingly, rolling their eyes a little. After that the couple quickly makes their way over to the ranger camp. The Farstriders jump with joy at the sight of Liadrin and the blonde, and even Sylvanas’ grim expression lightens up a little, once Liadrin squeezes her in a hug. Jaina watches the scene from a far, still unsure whether she’s going to join them or not. Kael obvious told her beforehand, but now, that she’s actually confronted with Sylvanas’ presence, she suddenly doesn’t feel all that inclined to.

 

“Why the long face?” Kael drops onto the sand next to Jaina, empathetically nudging her.

 

“Oh, it’s nothing, I’m just a little hungover.” the human replies neutrally, but Kael is obviously having none of it.

 

“Sure.” he says. “You want a drink? I’m going to fetch some piña coladas for Valeera and me.

 

“It’s thirty degrees.” Jaina argues. Kael’Thas only shrugs. “And? Elf, remember?” he gestures at himself, then points at the sun.

 

“Water?” he eventually offers.

 

“Yes please.”

 

“Coming right up.”

 

While the group makes themselves more comfortable in their designated spot, Jaina watches the old friend’s interact. Liadrin and Sylvanas almost resemble each other completely. Only the redhead has a sort of natural lightheartedness to herself, that Sylvanas is missing. Valeera on the other hand fits right in with the triplets, a little grapple breaking out between her and Velonara over a bottle of water, because neither of them wants to get up and fetch another one. An hours goes by, Jaina studiously buried in her book, not looking up at all, unless Kael’Thas comes over to entertain her, or ask her if she needs something. – It’s not that Sylvanas is doing any better though. The tall blonde quasi motionlessly sitting on her towel, looking at the sea, while Liadrin, Valeera and the Farstriders exchange stories about the war.

 

 

 

“Hey JP, we are going to play some Volleyball, do you want to join? Nothing too serious. Just a little fun.” Vel appears next to Jaina’s towel, just as she is about to turn the next page.

The blonde looks up from her book, blinks a little irritated for a second, seriously considering the question, but then quickly begins to nod. “I’d love to.” she replies noticeably enthusiastic, and quickly sets her reading aside, prompting Vel to wonder what has changed all of the sudden. It’s not that she’s not happy about the human joining them, after all she is their friend too, and if she opted to isolate her any further changes are she would have carried her over herself, but she is at least some what irritated by the fact she gave in so easily.

 

When they are gathered around the Volleyball field – basically just two posts planted in the sand, holding a somewhat weathered net and a bunch of rubber tape to outline the field – Sylvanas and Jaina are unmistakably gravitating away from each other, so Velonara quickly steps in, dragging her sisters with her, coming up next to Sylvanas and vaguely throwing her arm around the taller elf’s shoulder.

 

“Rangers versus magic users and their sidekicks!” she announces cheerily, prompting Valeera to clear her throat at the insinuation she is the sidekick in that scenario, and all of them share a laugh, before taking at least some time to warm up a little. Both the roommates look somewhat relieved at Vel’s quick resolution to the situation, although both also make an effort to avoid each other’s gaze. The redhead is the only one to notice that the way Jaina is stretching her limbs is anything but amateurish, prompting her to eye the short blonde suspiciously for a second. She supposes, although she doesn’t come off as particularly strong, the mage has a very fit physique, so maybe she is just properly taking care of her joints. After a few minutes of stretching and goofing around on the Farstrider’s part, they take their positions on opposite sides of the field, Valeera and Kael taking another moment to shed some more clothes and tie up their otherwise long, open hair into a more manageable form. Then Anya serves the first ball.

 

 

Liadrin notices the look Jaina is giving her, and instead of passing back to her wife, sets the ball directly towards the net and Jaina. At first the move surprises everyone, the elves on the other side giving each other slightly confused looks, as the triplets nonetheless get into a defensive formation.

Only a moment her friends, including her teammates freeze in place, incredulous looks on their faces, as the blonde mage rises into the air, easily taking off from the sand beneath her, and climbing into considerable height for her own size, an intense expression on her face, and with unmistakable prowess spikes the ball directly towards Sylvanas. The tall elf on the other hand just stands their, observing the ordeal helplessly. A blink of an eye later the ball passes the net with considerable speed, audibly whistling through the air, and hits an unsuspecting Sylvanas directly in her face, practically sending her into an involuntary backflip, accompanied by the sharp sound of a short cry of pain, as the ball bounces off her, and drops into the sand next to the court.

Now all the others eye the human baffled, still not fully grasping what happened, before Vel, recovering from the first shock, quickly drops on her knees next to her friend, immediately inspecting her face for damage.

 

“I’m _so_ sorry.” Jaina announces. “I didn’t mean to hit you. Are you hurt?” Her expression is completely innocent, almost angelic, but there is this strange, uncharacteristic edge to her voice, that makes her apology sound anything but sincere.

Kael’Thas looks like he is about to burst into laughter, as he raises an amused eyebrow at the other mage, and shares a look with Liadrin, who does the same. Both of them quietly chuckling at the scene.

 

“No. It’s alright. I just wasn’t prepared. My bad.” Sylvanas says as graciously as possible, adjusting her jaw, as the other two of her teammates reach out to pull her to her feet again. “You are very good at this.” the tall elf woman comments once she is standing again, dusting off some of the sand she is covered in.

 

“I used to play a little in school.” Jaina informs her innocently, shrugs nonchalantly. While Kael and Liadrin are almost hysterical, Valeera narrows her eyes at the exchange, gives both of them a questioning look.

 

A minute later Valeera barely manages to dig a very apt spike from Vel, and Kael has to stretch himself too, but manages to set the ball for Jaina once more. Again the blonde climbs into the air, spiking it past Anya and Lyana’s block, and directly towards Sylvanas. It’s even sharper, and bend, and although she anticipates it this time, she only manages to keep it from penetrating her cupped hands and reaching her face, stumbling back a little, as the ball is caught in the net after bouncing off of her and falls to the ground once more.

Now even Velonara can’t help but grin at the disgruntled expression on Sylvanas’ face, as she picks up the ball, mumbling something to herself through clenched teeth, before passing it to Kael for the next serve. Jaina meanwhile, simply stands there, hands braced against her hips, blowing a strain of white hair out of her field of view, and glaring at the tall elf woman on the opposite side of the field.

 

“What’s wrong with them?” Valeera whispers, leaning towards her wife. After all Liadrin had described their relationship as very amicable, if still a little awkward in the feelings department.

 

“Melaeth happened.” Liadrin replies under her breath, still grinning at the situation unfolding in front of them.

 

“ _Oh_.”

 

“ _Ye_ _s_.”

 

It probably doesn’t help that Sylvanas can get really competitive if she’s challenged. And if this isn’t a challenge what else is? For some time it goes back and forth; After all the rangers are at least somewhat physically superior to their opponents, even though the gap is not as big as one would think, and after another few graces and near misses of Sylvanas’ head, the game develops into a fun little match. Jaina still quasi pommels the tall elf woman every time she gets the chance. And while she eventually sets into her own rhythm, being able to weather most of it, even scoring a few point herself, the barrage never ends, slowly wearing her down.

They are almost an hour into their _friendly_ game, when Jaina adds insult to injury, after visibly winding up for a hard spike, Sylvanas already rising into the air on the other side of the net, her hands outstretched, proceeds to lightly tip the ball over the tall elf’s block, the ball gently dropping onto ground just behind her, all while looking her dead in the eye the whole time.

For a short moment Velonara things Sylvanas’ head is going to explode on the spot, as there is a noticeably amount of anger rising in her, her hands clenched into fists, as she grinds her teeth. But then she suddenly relaxes, almost slumps a little, before turning on her heel and striding off the field.

“I think I need a break.” She says neutrally, and immediately starts walking towards the ocean. The short mage watches her go, still an excoriating expression on her face.

 

“Do you think you had enough…. _retribution_?” Vel asks seriously, but there is not animosity in her voice, more honest worry. Now Jaina eyes her a little grimly, before her expression and body language suddenly softens, dropping into an intense sadness.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin your game.” She says meekly, takes a step away from the net.

 

“No. She deserved that.” Vel says without hesitation. “And it was still a fun game; You are an amazing player by the way; But maybe it’s time to let it go?”

 

“You are right. I’ll go apologize to her.”

 

“You will do no such thing.” Kael interjects strongly, steps in next to Jaina.

 

“You have every right to be angry too.” he goes on. “And it was just a game of Volleyball. You don’t have to apologize for being good at it. Let her cool off a little, maybe it helps her come around to a real apology.”

 

“Okay.” the mage replies sadly, vaguely longingly gazes over to where her roommates kicks water.

 

 

 

 

 


	18. No Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hello! This took a little while for various reasons, including but limited to a *little* heartbreak on my part. Enjoy!

“You are not going to listen to Kael’Thas, do you?” Vel says quietly, and quickly trades her bikini top for a fresh tank top, then ruffles her own hair into place. For a second Jaina looks at her a little confused, but then her face lights up with understanding.

 

“I supposed I am?” She replies hesitantly and they switch holding the towel in front of each other, so the mage can change too.

 

“Please don’t.” Velonara sighs. “I know I said she deserved it, and she kind of did, because she should have known better. But I still think it’s enough, if not a little much.” the short elf pauses for a moment, as Jaina wiggles into her dress again. "She _cares_ so much; She is just _really bad_ at dealing with this kind of situation.”

 

“What even am I going to say?” Jaina reappears next to her. The seriousness of the statement inevitably makes Vel roll her eyes, at least a little bit; Because, where has she heard that particular group of words before? The short elf nonetheless to decides to give the question some immediate thought, although changing the inflection a little; What is she going to say?

 

“Want free drinks?” she suddenly says, a roguish grin forming on her face, as she without awaiting Jaina’s answer drags her along by her hand. A few minutes later they find themselves in front of one of the bars in the a little more crowded areas of the beach. Vel pointedly seizes up her human friend for a second. “Do you mind taking off the top under there? Didn’t think so.” she adds with a cheerful smile, watching the almost scandalized expression of protest forming on Jaina’s face.

A moment later the mage watches in a mixture of slight terror and amazed wonder, as the short haired elf _slowly_ bends forward, now resting her elbows on the surface of the counter, innocently propping up her head on her hands. The irritated expression on the young man’s face, and it’s increasingly colorful shade, unmistakably signify the fact he has caught on to the fact that _A_ , Velonara is not wearing a bra of any kind, and _B_ , the neckline of a two size to large tank top does a considerably bad job at concealing that fact. Becoming aware of it herself, it only takes another few seconds for Jaina’s face’s color to match the poor boy’s, as the ranger wraps him around her finger.

 

An… uncomfortable to watch conversation later, the pair walks away with a drink in each hand between them, courtesy of Vel to great effect pointing out to _Malor_  he has been ‘staring at her boobs’ the whole time.

 

“Won’t he get into trouble?” Jaina asks worriedly, as their feet touch sand again.

 

“Probably not.” Vel shrugs. “Unless he has been doing that anyway, the margins are pretty big. At least they were when I was working that beach bar, many many years ago.” Jaina isn’t entirely convinced by the assertion, but decides to let it go anyway. After all her first contact with the elf involved her summoning the spirit of a dead squirrel to their apartment.

Another moment later they are at _their_ little section of the beach again, but before Jaina can do anything the short elf hands the cocktails she is holding to Valeera and Liadrin, and promptly grabs onto Jaina’s waist, not so gently turning her towards the spot where her best friend is sitting in the wet sand, looking out onto the ocean, and with a light pat to her put shoves the mage in her general direction.

Just when Jaina, albeit hesitantly, starts walking, Kael looks like he has to say something about it, but is quickly silenced by Vel throwing herself into his lap, hanging her legs above the arm rest of his beach chair, the sudden impact of her weight on his body twisting whatever he was about to say into a pained groan, earning her an amused smile from their redheaded friend.

 

 

“Hey.” Jaina says sheepishly, instead of approaching stops a few steps away from Sylvanas, drinks still in hand.

 

“Hey.” Sylvanas replies evenly, doesn’t take her eyes of the horizon. For a second Jaina doesn’t know how to proceed. In all honesty she doesn’t have a plan either. But then her gaze falls onto the glass in her hand.

 

“Mana Colada?” she takes a step forward and lowers the glass into the taller woman’s field of view. Now, the elf looks up, quickly trailing form her hand to her face, and they exchange a noticeably helpless look, before she reaches up and takes the cocktail from Jaina.

After handing over the drink, for moment the mage just stands there, uncertain what to do know. It takes the elf a short while to notice, but when she recognizes Jaina’s hesitance, she pointedly scoots a little to the side, even though there is plenty of space next to her, signaling for her to join her with a faint nod of her head.

 

“No ice?” Sylvanas breaks the silence still looming between them, noticeably trying to sound at least somewhat cheerful, as the short blonde graciously folds her legs under herself.

 

“ _Oh, Uh…._ ” Jaina looks at the glass in her hand, and finds that Malor has indeed forgotten to add ice to their cocktails. Why could that possibly have been?

 

“Let me...” she quickly implores, reaches for the glass in Sylvanas’ hand, but immediately pulls back the moment the back of her hand graces the taller woman’s fingers.

 

“Here.” the elf hands her drink to the mage, a slightly pained expression on her face over the reaction. Jaina holds both glasses in her hands, giving them a probably unnecessarily intense look, her eyes faintly glowing in a soft, barely noticeably blue, and soon even little ice crystals start forming around the spots where her fingers are touching the surfaces.

 

“Thank you.” Sylvanas offers with a little smile, and cautiously takes back the glass.

 

Thankful for the pretense to not talk, both of them take a few sips from the newly cooled cocktails, for a while just sitting there, reveling in each others company, even though they won’t admit that.

 

“I’m sorry for hitting you.” Jaina says after a while, turns towards the elf with a serious expression.

 

“Don’t worry about it.” the taller woman simply says, prompting Jaina to grimace a little at the way she shrugs it off without addressing it any further.

 

“I’m serious. It was childish and entirely unwarranted.” she begins again, unwilling to letting it go like that.

 

“It was just a volleyball. I’ve been hit in the face with far more painful things.” the elf jokes with a wry smile.

 

“That’s no consolation at all.” Jaina narrows her eyes at the other woman a little, taking a short while to suppress all the worrying thoughts rushing to her mind.

 

“I was frustrated, and angry, _and_ ….” She takes a suspiciously long pause. “I don’t know. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

 

“I’m sorry _it_ happened.” Sylvanas offers quietly.

 

“I’m not upset because of what happened. Well maybe at first, but Vel told me everything about Mel and you. I think _she_ was more upset than I was at first.”

 

“But...” the elf starts to protest.

 

“I was upset because you acted like nothing happened.” Jaina informs her calmly, looks down the sand beneath them, picks up a hand full and lets it trickle through an opening between her fingers.

 

 

“My mother sided with Arthas.” Jaina adds cryptically after a moment.

 

“ _Mhhh?_ ” Sylvanas immediately gives her a questioning look.

 

“During… _the divorce_. She was convinced that it had to be me; Since Arthas is such an admirable and honorable gentleman.” the shorter blonde elaborates, then sighs loudly, sways towards Sylvanas a little.

 

“That’s terrible.” Sylvanas says strongly, almost instinctively wrapping her arm around the shorter woman’s shoulders.

 

“Yeah. I’m over it.” the shorter woman says neutrally, shifts her body away from the elf, prompting her hand to slide of her shoulder and rest against her body again. Sylvanas suddenly wonders, how she even managed to move on from this, and how much like a complete betrayal that unfortunate situation must have felt to the human, and she suddenly feels to need to come clean about the fact she _knows_.

 

“Vel and I have seen the file.” the taller woman purses her lips at the admission. “It’s okay if you are not.”

 

At that Jaina only hums acknowledgingly, vaguely sad, her posture slumping a little.

 

“I’m sorry.” Sylvanas hastily says, uncharacteristically starts gesturing with her hands. “I didn’t mean to….”

 

“Don’t be; You were nothing but wonderful to me. You actually helped a lot.” Jaina establishes strongly, doesn’t take her eyes off the side of the elf’s face until she eventually turns her head, and they both share another look.

 

“Friends?” the mage says maybe a little sheepishly, unconsciously adjusts her grip on her glass multiple times.

 

“ _Friends_.” Sylvanas replies. Her tone is amicable, warm even, but also vibrates with something like resignation. “What are we going to do now?” the taller woman inquires after a short moment of silence.

 

“Getting another drink?” the blonde mage offers with a wry smile, trying to hide how annoyed – disappointed – she is with the fact that they aren’t immediately what they used to be. Whatever that may have been.

 

“That’s not what I meant.” Sylvanas raises her eyebrows, tilts her head a little, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

 

“Let’s just enjoy the vacation.” Jaina replies somewhat more cheerful and warm, tries for another _honest_ smile and surprisingly succeeds.

 

“Are you sure? If you want to go home, that would be completely understandable….” the other woman quasi instantly interjects.

 

“No. I want to stay.” the human announces sternly.

 

“Okay.” Sylvanas says quietly. She isn’t entirely sure what she would prefer herself. They are supposedly okay again now. – Well mostly. So why does she have this feeling in the back of her head.

 

Following their exchange they spend some more time just quietly sitting there, looking at the ocean before them. If she didn’t know better, Sylvanas would say Jaina has been getting physically closer over the course of the past minutes, even though she seemingly still occupies the same spot, her pose vaguely the same. The shorter blonde has her eyes trained on the horizon, absentmindedly gazing into the distance, doesn’t even recognize when Sylvanas turns towards her after a while, quietly studying her expression as she is lost in thought.

 

“One thing though...” Jaina suddenly says solemnly, breaking the tall elf out of her train of thought too, takes a look over her shoulder, and to her great relieve finds none of their friends particularly paying attention to them, as Valeera apparently is about the climb the top of the Farstrider tower that has stacked up in the middle of their little camp. Before Sylvanas can think anything off her statement the blonde gingerly leans against her side, and quickly presses a small kiss to her cheek, her small hand resting against the opposite side of her face. She can even feel her mouth curve into a smile afterwards.

The situation reminds Sylvanas of that night; Unexpected; Overwhelming; Objectively not warranting that kind of reaction. As the taller woman’s brain, that in her defense has just come to terms with the idea of being _friends_ again, scrambles to form a coherent thought, Jaina gets up from her spot, adeptly unfolding her legs and standing up in one fluent motion, even straightening out her dress in the process. When she turns around she finds Vel standing in the distance, holding the volleyball in her outstretched hand, and alternating between enthusiastically waving and pointing at the ball with her other.

 

 

 

 

 


	19. I want to show you my Squirrel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably not the chapter any of you expected, but after long deliberation where to put it, I thought this was the most suitable point for this little break in the regular story. And I have come to love this character so much, so I'll dedicated a little more of the story to her than innitially intended. 
> 
> Tell me what you think :)
> 
> Enjoy!

“ _Aaaaaaaaand_?” Vel seemingly pops up out of nowhere next to her best friend as the taller elf is about to trade her swimwear for more practical clothes, even if it’s just shorts and a flannel shirt. Her _talk_ with her human roommate has been half an hour ago, but Sylvanas can still practically feel her touch on her face.

 

“What about it?” she tries to play it cool, tries her hardest at an indifferent expression, although the attempt is most likely in vain.

 

“My eyesight is twenty – five, just like yours.” the shorter elf informs her cheerfully before for a moment crawling into her tent and retrieving the large watermelon from the ice box.

 

“What are you going to do now?” she reemerges, and from somewhere procures one of her curved daggers and begins carving up the fruit.

 

Unsurprisingly, her inquiry is met with silence.

 

“What are you waiting for?”

 

“I don’t know, do you really think it’s...”

 

“You should just talk about it. She kissed you.”

 

“On the cheek….” the other woman protests meekly.

 

“...And I’m not supposed to tell you that. She _also really likes you._ ” the short elf groans in feign outrage.

 

“But we just made up. I mean; Maybe we are better as friends.” Sylvanas argues, immediately prompting Velonara to roll her eyes.

 

“Did you hear a word I said? _You_ like her too.” Vel points her blade at the taller elf accusingly. Sylvanas again looks like a deer in the headlights.

 

“You are really bad at this. Just ask her on a date _again_. Do something together. Just two weeks ago you’ve been like a surge of confidence on your part away from smooching. You know, before you suddenly decided it would be a good idea to let Mel into your home again.”

 

“Can you stop bringing it up?” Sylvanas replies a little annoyed.

 

“I will. The moment you stop being such a big wuss.” Vel shrugs. “She is just waiting for you to make _a_ step.”

 

Her point is emphasized by the fact that she just now catches Sylvanas using just that sentence to rest her gaze on the human graciously resting in one of the beach chairs, her legs drawn up and her head hidden under a large sun hat, as usual a book in hand. Before Velonara can make a comment, the blonde, as if she knows, sets down her book for a moment and now on her part looks over, catching Sylvanas looking at her just for the briefest moment, before the tall elf manages to swiftly avert her gaze.

 

Vel blinks owlishly, undecided what to even comment at that, then just shakes her head.

 

“I know you just made up. And I know it’s a little harder for you than the rest of us, but it’s an even bigger leap for Jaina. We are here until tomorrow evening; For the love of the Light, just talk to her. Also, if you go, can you take the paper plates?” Vel holds out a pack of said paper plates to Sylvanas, her expression very much suggesting this conversation is over.

 

Only a few minutes later their little group is gathered on their beach chairs and towels, enjoying the water melon. The married couple shares a chair, while the sisters are piled onto a distinctively to small towel next to them, while Kael and Jaina got their own chair, and Sylvanas sits in the sand next to Jaina, her legs folded under herself. The awkwardness isn’t quite gone, but the close proximity to each other seems to have a calming effect on both of them, and they practically wordlessly trade napkins and bottles of water. For a moment it even looks like Jaina is going to ask the taller elf to share her spot, but Sylvanas makes a point of being pretty comfortable next to her.

 

“Excuse me.” a sharp but also warm and vibrant voice says loudly, prompting the group to stop their already peaceful and quiet meal and turn towards the source.

 

The voice belongs to the orc woman, that suddenly appears close to the volleyball field. She is clad in the typical lifeguard outfit, bright red shorts and a crop bikini top with the simplified Thalassian crest on it. Standing as tall as Kael and Sylvanas, with the typical frame of an orc; Her body seemingly only comprised of muscles, with broad shoulders and toned legs. Her already soft brown skin, covered with large tribal tattoos, shapes and braided patterns woven into each other, from her arms down her torso and parts of her legs, tanned to a more vibrant color by the constant exposure to the sun.

The tall woman wears a short undercut, the same lines adorning her body shaved into the sides of her head, the black hair on top comped into a messy part to the left; Gentle, purple eyes looking at their group a little annoyed from the otherwise strong, sharply defined features, the edges of her mouth curved disapprovingly downwards, only interrupted by the short tusks peeking from the corners of her mouth, an eyebrow raised.

 

All of them look a little perplexed at the sudden interruption, before Kael quickly gets up from his chair and approaches the orc. Jaina blinks owlishly, looks at Sylvanas who only shrugs a little, before from the corner of her eyes catching Valeera pointedly reaching over to Vel, who strangely looks a little more dumbfounded than the rest of them, and gently pushing her mouth shut, while wide grins spread on the face of her sisters over the gesture.

 

“What’s the matter, Officer?” Kael’Thas begins in his honeyed voice, but apparently instead of getting on her good side, it has the opposite effect, and the orc’s face quickly drops into somewhat of a scowl, noticeably irritating the tall man.

 

“There has been a few shark sightings, and the wind is forecast to pick up later in the afternoon, so we are closing the beach for swimming. Your group is a little off, so I’m here to officially warn you, before the signs come up later.” the raven haired woman iterates neutrally.

 

“There are sharks?” Jaina asks honestly worried.

 

“Well yes, but they usually don’t do anything, until the tourists start poking them til they do. It’s more of a precaution.” the life guard explains more friendly.

 

Suddenly what can only be described as a small brawl breaks out among the Farstriders, briefly removing the attention from their guest, and while the elves and Jaina scramble to pull them apart the orc shrugs and takes her leave.

 

“What was that about?” Jaina asks once the triplets are a save distance from each other again.

 

“Lulu and the life guard sitting in a tree...” Anya begins singing, and before Sylvanas can intervene Vel is on top of her again, wrestling her down, accompanied by a hearty laugh on her sisters part.

 

“Oh shut up, Ani. Like you are any better.”

 

“She has a point though.” Liadrin offers unusually cheerful.

 

“Yeah, for someone with that healthy a sex drive, you are pretty bad at this actually.” the redhead’s wife chimes in. “Go ask for her number or something.”

 

Sylvanas slowly leans in close to her best friend and whispers “What are you waiting for?” earning her a mild shove and a punch to her shoulder.

 

“Maybe I’m going to do just that.” Vel huffs in response, gets up and immediately starts stomping off in the general direction the tall woman went.

 

“What’s up with her all the sudden?” Jaina asks once Velonara is out of earshot.

 

“Not unlike myself Vel is very good at giving all sorts of advice….” Kael’Thas begins to explain.

 

“ _And_ hooking up with all sorts of pretty women during ladies night at Belore'dorei.” Lyana chimes in unhelpfully.

 

“But if she’s really attracted to someone she suddenly turns into Sylvanas.” Kael quips, prompting Sylvanas to clear her throat in protest, as even on Jaina’s face a little smile starts to spread at his comment.

 

 

 

 

 

“Oh, Hey.” Vel bobs up and down on her heels as she approaches the front desk of the coast guard station.

 

“Can I help you, Miss?” the elf staffing the desk inquires, raising an eyebrow at her, his eyes glowing in a warm purple.

 

“ _Er…_ _I… Yes!_ ” the short elf woman begins. “I looking for one of your life guards. About this tall...” she gets on her tip toes, stretching her arm out above her head. “...black hair. Oh, and also an orc. Don’t know if that matters….”

 

The man gives her a bewildered look, maybe she should have lead with that detail, but then a smile appears on his face, that makes Vel strangely uneasy.

 

“Rarahu is on patrol right now, but she should finish her round any minute. If you want you can wait in her office.” he informs her friendly and gestures down the hall to his left.

 

“Then I’ll be doing that. Thank you….” the woman looks at the man expectantly.

 

“ _Adurin_.” he says warmly, offering another smile.

 

“Thank you _Adurin_.” Velonara waves as she vanishes down the hall, prompting him to lightly shake his head.

 

_Rarahu_. Vel thinks to herself, going over the name over and over again. Usually she is not that…affected when it comes to these things; She supposes Sylvanas wasn’t completely wrong, she is kind of carefree when it comes to her love life. But this is somehow different, and it mildly freaks her out.

It isn’t hard to find the office, actually – It’s the only one currently empty. – and Vel simply strolls in, trying to figure out as much as she can about the woman. After all she doesn’t know anything about her.

On the one wall that isn’t entirely glass there is a metal frame, holding two surf boards and a modern canoe plus a bunch of paddles of different wear. In the corner beneath an expensive looking mountain bike is parked; Even though they are inside the office, a lock is fastened around its front wheel. While giving herself a tour of the room – reconnaissance is key – the elf eventually rounds the desk, can’t resist the temptation of letting herself plummet into the chair, even though that’s kind of a stretch, since her legs barely reach the ground.

After making herself comfortable and lowering the chair, her attention immediately falls to the single picture on the slightly messy desk. It’s off Rarahu and some orc man posing with their surf boards. They look very familiar, and Vel’s heart immediately slumps a little at the sight. Maybe she should just leave.

On her following quest to find something to distract her from the thought, and actually go through with her plan of at least _befriending_ her, she starts rummaging through the various items on the desk, in the process pinning various office supplies between her nose and her upper lip, and maybe once or twice spinning in the chair, just for the fun of it. Just as her brain is about to finally persuade her into leaving her gaze falls onto a wooden stick tugged between behind a large tracking backpack under the large window. It’s a simple stick, not really interesting, but somehow the short elf is drawn to it. If only for curiosity’s sake.

She quickly gets up, making her way over. Obviously she can’t just take a look, so she gives the backpack a little kick, not her fault if it so happens to tip over by accident. Just as the falling backpack reveals a small rainbow flag fastened to the stick, the sound of someone clearing their throat, followed by the orc’s already ridiculously familiar voice catches her attention and she actually startles, before she snaps around.

 

“What are you doing in here?” the woman inquires sternly, intensely scrutinizing the intruder, her arms folded in front of her body.

 

“I… _Uh_...” every shred of confidence leaves Vel’s body at once.

 

“You are one of the pretentious assclown’s friends, aren’t you?” Rarahu asks, getting a step closer.

 

“ _No_ … Yes. Yes I am. But that’s not…”

 

“What do you want?” the tall woman calmly walks past Vel and sets the Backpack upright, cautiously _hiding_ the flag behind it again.

 

“I want to show you my squirrel.” Vel’s brain on autopilot, still processing the image of the rainbow flag, issues, followed by barely audible ‘ _Fuck_ ’. _Smooth_ _Farstrider_ _, real smooth._

 

“Your _squirrel_?” the orc raises an eyebrow at her, her look slightly confused.

 

“It’s dead.” _That’s not the slightest bit better!_

 

“That’s… Maybe you should see a doctor?” the orc says audibly amused, and sits down in her chair, instantly starts to readjust it, with a slightly annoyed expression.

 

“No. That’s not...” the elf groans loudly at herself.

 

A short moment goes by in silence, as Vel closes her eyes and slowly counts to three. The taller woman just gives her another bewildered look, as she stands there, talking to herself like a madwoman.

 

“Do you want to go out sometime?” the short elf eventually blurts, opens her eyes again, albeit reluctantly, awaiting Rarahu’s answer.

 

“I mean… it doesn’t have to be… we could just….” she follows up, filling the short silence.

 

 

“I don’t even know your name, and you are suggesting we should become friend’s with benefits.” the orc points out, but there is a smile on her face.

 

“No. I didn’t…. I’m Vel. Velonara.” Vel hastily informs her. When exactly did she turn into Sylvanas, Light dammit?

 

“What did you have in mind, _Velonara_?” Rarahu pointedly asks, her purple eyes quasi smiling at the elf on their own. Velonara can’t help but feel like she is made fun of.

 

“We are making a bonfire tonight. Maybe you want to come hang out? I mean, there will be food. And my friend’s aren’t as terribly as you make them out to be.” _Of course she had to add that._

 

The orc narrows her eyes at the short blonde, then chuckles a little. “Are they?” she grins. “I’m off duty around six, let’s just talk then.” she says. At first Vel is disappointed she didn’t get an outright confirmation, but then Rarahu holds out her phone towards her.

 

“Call yourself.” she instructs friendly.

 

“Okay. _Okay_!” Vel quasi exclaims, taking the device from her and quickly doing as she’s told.

 

Just as she hands the phone back, contently looking at the number still showing on her screen, the little blue spirit emerges from somewhere on her body, and takes it’s usual position on top of her head, prompting Rarahu to raise an eyebrow again, but her expression softens into a cheerful smile at the realization, and she says something in what sounds like Orcish but to Vel’s best ability isn’t, because she doesn’t know a single one of the words. At the Rarahu’s words the squirrel starts to run a few circles on top of Vel’s head, before settling in it’s center again, and if she didn’t knew better, she would say it also made a sound.

 

“See you around Blue.” Rarahu says. At first Vel is irritated by her new title, but then her eyes fall onto her own reflection in one of the windows, and she can’t help but be content with it and even blushes a little.

 

“ _Uh_ … Yes. See you around.” Velonara quickly replies, as the realization of what just transpired starts to settle in and the red on her face intensifies, and proceeds to awkwardly walking out of the office backwards, willing a somewhat confident smile onto her face and waving her good bye.

 

 


	20. Cut the top off, empty out, fill

The rest of the afternoon goes by uneventful, as the wind indeed picks up. It’s not an entirely unwelcome change to the plain heat, especially for Jaina, but is just strong enough to render the volleyball useless. In the meantime Sylvanas has begun prepping the food for the barbecue; She supposes Vel’s offer for her to come along wasn’t entirely altruistic after all.

 

“Hey JP, I think Sylvanas needs help with the food.” Vel’s voice informs Jaina from beneath her handstand. The blonde looks up from her book, for a moment eyeing the tall elf at the small folding table a bit away from them, very much minding her task in silence, then turns towards the short elf giving her what Velonara can only suspect to be Jaina’s version of a deadpan expression.

Unfazed by the human’s silent protest Vel just aggressively nods her head towards Sylvanas, demandingly raising her eyebrows, transitions into a backward roll, leaving her sitting in the sand a little away from Jaina, and repeats the gesture.

 

Sylvanas is deep in thought when Jaina comes up next to her, gingerly stepping closer, and almost startles when the human’s small hand comes into view, alerting her to her presence by waving a little.

 

“Vel said I could maybe help you?” the short blonde informs the elf hesitantly, as Sylvanas puts down the knife for a moment. “What are you doing?”

 

“I’m prepping the filling for the bell peppers.” Sylvanas informs her neutrally, nonetheless takes half a step aside so they both can share this side of the table.

 

“Looks tasty.” the blonde says a little awkwardly, takes a close look at the raw slaps of meat laid out on a real plate.

 

“ _Hmmm_ , we stopped at an excellent butcher on our way here.” the taller woman informs her, and proceeds with mixing the mass in the bowl.

 

“What’s that?” Jaina asks pointing at one of the kinds of meat. “I have never seen that before; I think.”

 

“That’s Lynx.” the elf informs her, pauses what she is doing for a moment, expecting another question.

 

“Like, a big cat?” Jaina follows, making a face at the thought.

 

“It’s very common here.” Sylvanas reasons. “They are even hunted for pest control, actually.”

 

The human doesn’t look convinced, still wrinkling her nose, but apparently accepts the answer, and both of them fall silence again. The next few minutes go by in silence, as the tall elf tends to the filling again, before it quickly becomes unbearable.

 

“I like the hair.” Sylvanas says what’s supposed to be neutrally, friendly even, but comes of as plain awkward, for a moment looks like she hasn’t decided whether she’s going to actually turn around and walk away over it.

 

“ _Uh_ … Thank you.” Jaina fidgets a little with a strain of said hair, she looked at in mild shock herself this morning, but then turns to the taller blonde, offering a soft smile. At the sight of her clear, blue eyes, the elf’s head snaps back into position, again focused on the food on the small table in front of her.

 

“Can you stuff the bell peppers?” Sylvanas says after a moment of both of them just standing there, as she finishes preparing the filling.

 

“Yes?” the mage looks at least a little surprised that that’s the next thing that comes out of her roommates mouth, but then quickly grabs the bowl from her.

 

“Oh, that’s vegetarian?” she asks, scrutinizing the contents.

 

“Yes?” Sylvanas replies, clearing her small working space to get to the next dish.

 

“You didn’t have to… You know I don’t care all that much.”

 

“I didn’t know you were coming.” Sylvanas points out, and that’s mostly true. Well, technically true. As long as you don’t get into the semantics of maybe secretly hoping Jaina would come and being prepared. And maybe Vel suggested preparing a vegetarian option. Okay, she should most definitely have known she was going to be there.

 

“ _Hmmm_.” Jaina hums acknowledgingly, pauses for a second. “It’s still very considerate of you.” she eventually says and gently bumps shoulders with her. In an impulse she can’t really fathom Sylvanas brings her arm around and affirmingly rubs the blonde’s back. The gesture elicits a somewhat content sigh, but the tall woman nonetheless hastily retreats her hand, at least manages to not cringe. Jaina eyes the elf’s profile for a second, before a little smile settles on her face, and she ever so slightly shakes her head at that, now beginning to actually stuff the bell peppers.

 

“Cut the top off, empty out, fill, put the top back on?” the blonde presents a cleaned green bell pepper.

 

“Exactly.” Sylvanas confirms with a small smile.

 

“See, I _can_ do it.” Jaina smiles widely and proceeds with filling the empty shell with the mass from the bowl.

 

“I never doubted you.” the elf replies dramatically, noticeably more cheerfully, prompting the short blonde to giggle at the comment, and she is soon joined by Sylvanas in a short, heartfelt laugh. Maybe it’s the absurdity, but for the briefest moment it feels like nothing has happened.

When the taller woman finally turns towards, she finds Jaina meeting her gaze, looking up at her with a strangely intense expression. They pause for a long moment, the tension slowly building.

 

“Hey _Ladies_.” Kael’s overly cheerful voice snaps them out of it, as the elf comes into view, gushingly inspecting the food on the table, and they quickly shuffle away from each other again. He obviously ignores the subtle glare his old friend shoots him, as he strolls around the table, now pointedly stepping in the small gap between the woman.

 

“Do you think we can feed a few people more?” he inquires in a slightly flippant tone.

 

“Define _few_.” Sylvanas says dryly, props her hand against her hip as she turns towards him with a questioning expression.

 

“Well….” his voice jumps half an octave as he draws out the word. “Three. The people on the neighboring lot would like to join us. They will pay their share, of course. They simply arrived later than they had initially thought, and didn’t have time to prepare dinner.” he makes it sound like a business transaction.

 

“We have plenty.” Sylvanas sighs, more than anything mourning that moment, he just walked in on so casually.

 

 

“Good. _Good_.” Kael smiles, and puts his arms around their shoulders. “Carry on.” he bids his goodbye with a grin, leaving both women flabbergasted by his demeanor; As usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hey!” Vel enthusiastically waves at the orc stepping out of the Coast Guard station. She has traded her swimwear for a dark gray shirt, made from a thick material, with rolled up sleeves she wears openly over a colorful sports bikini top, a pair of dark brown cargo shorts and a pair of simple old school sneakers. Unlike during work she also wears numerous wristbands and bracelets, made from leather and wooden pearls, a pair of sunglasses sitting on top of her hair, that, save for the color, almost looks similar to Vel’s now. She wheels her bicycle, carrying an old looking leather kit bag over one shoulder.

 

Noticeably Velonara has switched into a different large tank top, this time its gray, with a pink gradient on the bottom, and she even wears a real, black bra underneath, since the armholes almost reach down to her waist.

 

“ _Mok’ra_.” the orc pauses for a second, pointedly taking in the elf’s sight, a friendly smile spreading on her face as Vel rocks back and forth on her heels.

 

“Did you have a nice day?” the short elf asks, falling into step next to the other woman.

 

“Yes. Got to carry a rich kid from Stormwind off the beach kicking and streaming.” Rarahu says with an unreadable expression, although she is clearly hiding a grin. “How’s your squirrel?”

 

“I...” Vel immediately starts to turn bright red, but quickly recovers. “My squirrel is fine. _Never has been better._ ” It’s not as innuendo laden as it would usually be, but it will do.

 

“That’s good to hear.” the orc replies cheerfully, and Vel could swear she was waggling her eyebrows a little, for a second making her take a good look at her own feet. It strangely gives her confidence to walk a little closer; Light, she _is_ turning into Sylvanas.

 

 

 

 

“Ten miles? That’s impressive.” Velonara comments honestly, even stops in her tracks to properly appreciate the feat.

 

“Nine point eight. And didn’t win though.” Rarahu adds, following her example.

 

“You came in second.” the elf says almost affronted by the comment on the taller woman’s behalf. “Most people can’t even manage to swim a mile at any speed.” she protests.

 

“If you say so.” Rarahu shrugs, and pointedly starts walking again.

 

“I do.” the shorter woman huffs playfully, as she catches up to her again.

“You ever done anything like that?” the orc asks, intrigued by the other woman’s insistence on her excellence.

 

“Well, I once ran a mile while carrying a teammate.” Vel informs her, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

 

“That….” the taller woman begins.

 

“I’m a ranger. Hope that’s not a problem.”

 

“What happened?” Rarahu ignores the question.

 

“They got hit by a necrotic blast.”

 

“Did they make it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

At that the taller woman suddenly is visibly relieved. For a person she’ll probably never meet, no less. It makes Vel trust her unconditionally, and she all of the sudden all fuzzy again. “That’s good to hear.”

 

“Can I ask you something?” the orc follows up after a short pause, her voice even more serious.

 

“Ask away.” Vel replies without hesitation.

 

“Do you see a lot of action?” the taller woman’s voice is very serious.

 

“Not since the Scourge was defeated. These days we mostly fly around the border, picking up kids who think it’s a good idea to build sand castles out of cursed earth.” Velonara explains confidently, tries her best to come off as cheerful as possible, but can’t entirely hide the fact it’s not her most favorite topic.

 

“I see.” Rarahu simply says, now on her part getting just a little closer; Parts of her want to pick up the short elf in a hug. A moment goes by without either of them saying something; It’s been a little over a fifteen minute walk, and they are almost in view range of the others.

 

“Do you maybe want to go get some ice cream?” the elf suddenly inquires, stops in her tracks once more.

 

“It’s right over there.” Rarahu argues noticeably irritated, completely turns towards her.

 

“I know. I just thought it would be nice to spend some more alone time.” Vel replies weakly, suddenly distinctively being aware of their height difference. “I mean... It _is_ sort of a date.”

 

“Sort of.” the tall woman blinks slowly, a friendly smile returning to her face. “I can’t really eat ice cream. But maybe you want to get a beer, or a Moonberry cider? There is a beach bar not far away.”

 

Oh, Velonara knows about _that_ bar.

 

“Yes, that’s okay too.” the shorter woman’s expression lights up with mischief.

 

 

 

 

 

When Velonara and Rarahu finally approach the campsite an hour later, happily chatting, with wide smiles on their faces, an obvious familiarity and chemistry between them, Sylvanas is just about to fire up the barbecue, the human mage standing in attendance next to her, not remotely leaving her side.

 

“You did it.” Kael immediately approaches the pair, greeting them with open arms, prompting the orc to roll her eyes again.

 

“Kael’Thas...” Velonara vaguely positions herself between them. “This is Raharu. Rarahu, Kael’Thas.”

 

“ _Nice_ to meet you. Raharu.” Kael’Thas says ceremoniously, steps closer to make physical contact, but is stopped by his old friend hooking their arms together and steering him into a complete turn. “ _You get away from her._ ” she whisper hisses.

 

“Hi.” the orc replies dryly, smirks at their antics.

 

“There are three of you.” Raharu quips as Anya pops into view next to her the same moment Lyana seemingly appears out of nowhere, a little to closely inspecting her face.

 

“Yes.” Velonara shoos Lyana away from the orc. “These are my sisters, Anya and Lyana. Please ignore them.”

 

“Nice to meet you?” the tall woman says irritated.

 

“She looks even better now.” Lyana _whispers_ loudly to Anya.

 

“And those abs...”

 

“Can you maybe not….” Vel starts to blush again, but playfully grabs both of them by their necks and turns them around, sending them forward with a little shove. “I’m sorry...”

 

The rest of the introductions goes by uneventful. Sylvanas and Jaina are very polite, as always, the taller elf even tries to deny credit for being Vel’s best friend. And the married couple is way to occupied with enjoying the effects of the sun, and the fact they get to spend some quality time together. So after fruitlessly inquiring if they can do anything to help their cook, Velonara procures two beers from the icebox, and they opt to sit down on the beach for the time being.

 

 

 

 

“It seems we are lacking in seating capacity.” Kael announces cheerfully, as he comes into view, another cocktail in his hand, and effusively sits down next to their new friends, a very nice elf couple and their teenage daughter, vaguely gesturing at the log next to them. “Do you mind squeezing up a little?”

 

“Sure thing.” Valeera quips, effortlessly steadying her pretty full plate above her head with one hand, while practically crawling on top of her wife, and throwing her free arm around her. “I’m gonna sit right here.”

 

“So it would seem.” The redhead deadpans, but readjusts her legs to better steady the blonde’s pose. As if by command, Anya and Lyana quickly switch sides, squeeze into what amounts to a single seat next to Kael’Thas, while Sylvanas scoots closer to the married couple, suddenly looking conflicted at the sight of the short blonde, who somehow manages to look graceful while carrying a plate of food and a glass.

 

“Is it okay if I...” Jaina stops in front of her, politely awaiting her reaction.

 

“Of course. Take a seat.” the elf replies warmly, making a point of drawing her elbows closer to her body. Although she visibly avoids looking at her too much.

 

Even with their effort there isn’t much space left on the slightly shorter log, leaving Vel eyeing the remaining spot hesitantly, as Rarahu walks over, carrying both their plates. The odd pair shares a look, that seemingly conveys a whole conversation, culminating in the taller woman simply shrugging, before she sits down next to Jaina, still holding the plates. A second later Velonara carefully, sits down on top of her legs, gingerly resting her back against the orc’s body, before taking her plate from her, with a barely audible ‘thank you’. Nonetheless both of them seem awfully comfortable with the arrangement. She supposes she could have gone back to the camp and fetch a few of the chairs but this is okay too. She also kind of enjoys the sight of Sylvanas shifting in her seat next to their human friend. So that’s definitely a plus.

 

The food is delicious. As usual when the taller elf woman makes it, Velonara has to admit, and the spend the first part of the evening peacefully eating, chatting and poking fun at it each other by telling embarrassing, and by virtue of one of their guests being underage, even if only by a few months, for the most part clean stories of their joint time in the military and teenager years.

 

Jaina for a short while is visibly dumbfounded by the notion of Sylvanas and Vel _dating_ , a story that seemingly makes the tall elf more uncomfortable with each word that comes out of Kael’s mouth – who else’s? – and she can’t help but look relieved when she learned it lasted for all but two days. – When they were fourteen, and decided, since they were both gay _and_ best friends, it would just be the _logical_ thing to do.

 

“What’s with them?” Rarahu asks quietly, directly into Velonara’s ear, and nods towards the spot where Sylvanas and Jaina are currently trying to not look like they are anything, really. The comment almost prompts Vel to break into heartfelt laughter she restrains into a single snort.

 

“Do you have… like eight hours?” she replies cheerily.

 

“To spend with you?” the taller woman gets even closer, breath gently brushing against Vel’s cheek, prompting her to just blush just a little again.

 

 

 

“So.” Jaina says quietly, holding onto the Sylvanas’ hands between them. The cheerful laughter of their friends in the distance still audible, as Valeera holds Kael’Thas in a chokehold on the ground, he foolishly vowed to get out off without using magic.

It takes the mage a while to get the elf to not flinch away the moment she gets any closer to her, but in the end manages to actually get close enough to grab hold of her hands. She is not that drunk, or even tipsy for that matter, she thinks. But she knows the other woman has gone to extreme lengths to avoid drinking anything remotely alcoholic all evening. And she hates that. This back and forth between relative normalcy and polite rejection. And honestly, she is tired of this – this conflict.

 

“You and Vel.” she adds after a long pause, seemingly deciding against whatever she was originally about to say, accompanied by a soft chuckle.

 

“No. That’s… I don’t know why Kael even brought it up.” Sylvanas huffs, tries to retract her hands, but the small fingers dig into her palm with remarkable strength.

 

“I think it’s cute.” Jaina smiles widely. The tall woman only hums vaguely acknowledging.

 

“How did you know?” she follows up, a serious expression appearing on her face.

 

“Know what?” the elf replies honestly not knowing what she’s getting at.

 

“That you like girls.” the short blonde hesitates for a moment.

 

“ _Hmmm_.” Sylvanas replies a little dense, as per usual. “I suppose I at first knew I didn’t like boys.”

 

“I see.”

 

“And some day I just knew. Why?”

 

“Because… I think…. I like them too.”

 

Sylvanas supposes she already knew that by now, but nonetheless her heart seemingly stops for a few seconds at that, and she blinks rapidly, struggling to actually meet Jaina’s eyes.

 

“That’s…”

 

“I’m not done yet.” Jaina says strongly, prompting the other woman to fall quiet again “Okay.”

 

“It’s been brought to my attention that maybe always have. But _I_ didn’t know. It was never a thing. I was always supposed to marry Arthas, have children….” she pauses again.

 

“And when everything fell apart, there were you. And I thought, maybe that was a sign; That everything was going to turn out well. But then I thought you left me too. And that…. It was too much.”

 

“I am so sorry.” Sylvanas immediately replies sadly, doesn’t care whether Jaina is done now, instinctively pulls her closer, still hesitating to actually _do_ anything about it. Still the human completely leans forward, carefully resting her head against the tall elf’s collarbone.

 

“I’m here.” the taller woman whispers after a while. “Look how easy it is to hurt each other.” she adds meekly, but lets go of the other woman’s hands in favor of holding onto her.

 

“ _H_ _mmm_.” Jaina hums quietly, slowly lifts her head off of Sylvanas’ body. “You didn’t know.” She reasons, reaches down to hold onto the other woman’s hands on her body.

 

“I don’t want to hurt you.” the elf replies sadly.

 

“Do you have feelings for me?” the mage ignores her objections, her eyes locked with Sylvanas’, not so much as blinking.

 

“Yes.” Sylvanas says quietly, she isn’t sure she said it at all, thinks about repeating it, just to be sure. “But...”

 

“I don’t think...” Jaina replies cryptically, straightens herself out a little more. “I _know_ I like you.” she pauses again, her words heavy, serious. “No. I’m very sure that, I _love_ you.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Your friends aren’t that bad.” Rarahu smirks; She does that thing with her left tusk that’s like a quirk or something. Vel just stands there a little awkwardly. Their guests have left. Kael’Thas has long fallen asleep in the sand, sprawled out, an empty glass still in hand. Jaina and Sylvanas are away, still visible in the distance, but she know not to disturb them right now. And she is pretty sure she knows that Valeera and Liadrin are doing.

 

“No, they are not.” Velonara smiles back, takes the orcs hand, playing with her fingers for a moment, before letting go of it again, still some distance between them.

 

“Do you want to like, go out in Sunspire tomorrow afternoon?” she hesitates for a second. “I know it’s pretty quick...”

 

“I’d love to.” Rarahu replies quasi instantly, picks up Vel’s considerably smaller hand herself.

 

“I don’t know what this is. But I like it.” she smiles warmly, prompting the elf’s face to light up with happiness.

 

“I don’t usually do that…. Okay. I practically always do that. But _this_ is different.” Vel says a little shakily. “Can you give me a boost?”

 

A short moment goes by with Rarahu seemingly waiting for confirmation she eventually gets, and so she scoops up the short elf woman under he butt, and lifts her up against herself, while Vel reaches up and cupping her face with her hands, eventually joining their lips in an uncharacteristically tame, gently, almost shy kiss.

 

"I think I like it too."


End file.
